A commotion broke out at an immigration office detention facility in Ranong’s Muang district yesterday when nearly 300 illegal migrant workers locked themselves in the five-storey building and called for officials to deport them speedily.
The uproar, the second in less than three months, was reported at 10.30 am when 284 migrant workers sealed off the building, held up signs by the windows declaring: “We want to go home” and demanded a meeting with Myanmar labour officials and high-level Thai provincial authorities.
About 50 police officers were sent in to restore order.
On 25th January this year, 402 illegal migrant workers broke out of their cells and tried to escape but were unable to get past a steel perimeter fence.
They were highly agitated and many screamed they wanted to go back home. Several had been detained for several months pending deportation to Myanmar’s Koh Song island but the border was closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
It was agreed at a meeting on 28th January that 166 Myanmar people would be deported to Koh Song island (Kawthaung) and 97 others would be deported via Tak’s Mae Sot district. The rest would only be transferred after the deportation of those two groups had been completed.
