Men sent back after abuse in Thailand

TWO construction workers in Thailand have been repatriated, and an undocumented restaurant worker is receiving consular assistance after all three were allegedly mistreated on the job in Thailand, officials said.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Chum Sounry yesterday confirmed two Cambodians were persuaded by brokers to work for a construction company in Bangkok with the promise of a 300 baht ($8.42) per day salary. However, for the first month, they were paid just 270 baht per day, and then the payment stopped entirely.

“This is the reason that they escaped from the company to live in the pagoda, and the monks at the pagoda arranged for them to travel by taxi to the embassy in Bangkok,” Sounry said. The two men were repatriated on January 4.

In a separate case, the embassy intervened to assist a man working illegally in a restaurant in Bangkok after he was allegedly badly beaten by his coworkers. “He was seriously injured and stayed in hospital for five days,” Sounry said.

The embassy appealed to the restaurant to help cover the roughly $870 in hospital fees.

Meanwhile, Thai authorities sent back two Cambodians yesterday morning after they had been arrested and detained for three days for allegedly crossing the border illegally to participate in cockfights in Thailand’s Sa Kaeo province. Cambodian border patrol officer Chork Vichet said Chhouen Seng, 45, and Oun Derng, 33, had each been fined about $70 and made to sign an agreement not to commit the offence again.

“Their cocks were also seized,” he added.