DHAKA: More than 110,000 Cambodians have fled Thailand to return home in the past week, an official said Sunday, amid fears of a crackdown on migrant workers after last month’s military takeover.
Labourers from Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar play a key role in Thai industries such as seafood, agriculture and construction, but they often lack official work permits.
On Wednesday Thailand’s military regime, which seized power in a coup on May 22, threatened to arrest and deport all illegal foreign workers.
‘They’re returning en masse like a dam collapsing. They’ve never come en masse like this before in our history,’ Kor Sam Saroeut, governor of northwestern Banteay Meanchey province where the main Cambodian-Thai border crossing is located, told media by telephone, reports The Straits Times.
BDST: 1623 HRS, JUNE 15, 2014
