Express bus driver, assistant linked to human trafficking syndicate held

ALOR SETAR: The Kedah Immigration Department has derailed an attempt by a human trafficking syndicate to smuggle, via an express bus, five Myanmar illegal immigrants, including a five-year-old boy, into Thailand.
The Myanmars were in the bus heading into Thailand through the Bukit Kayu Hitam border yesterday when a team of Border Security Agency personnel stopped the vehicle.
The team arrested the bus driver and his assistant, believed to have links with the syndicate, to facilitate investigations into the human trafficking pipeline to Thailand.
Bukit Kayu Hitam immigration chief, Nar Azaman Ibrahim said the suspects, aged 30 and 33, were nabbed at the Bukit Kayu Hitam Customs, Immigration, Quarantine and Security (ICQS) complex about 7.50am.
He said Border Security Agency personnel stopped the bus when it was about to pass a roadblock towards Thailand.
"At that juncture, the bus driver had instructed the Myanmars - two men, a woman and two boys aged between five and 38 - who were onboard the vehicle to duck and hide in between the passenger seats.
"They were told not to alight from the bus. Immigration officers nevertheless, checked the bus and found the foreigners huddled among the seats," Nar Azaman said in a statement here today.
He said the bus driver and assistant were remanded for seven days to facilitate investigations under Section 26A of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007.
The Myanmars have been detained at the immigration lock-up in the state home ministry building here. — Bernama