Cambodian border to reopen for goods

The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) has allowed Se Kaeo’s communicable diseases committee to re-open the Aranyaprathet checkpoint to transport goods between Thailand and Cambodia.

Starting tomorrow, 50 vehicles will be allowed to cross the border between 8am and 1pm each day.

Each vehicle can only carry two passengers, who must be screened for Covid-19 symptoms in line with existing disease-control guidelines prior to entering Thailand.

For now, Cambodians will only be allowed to transport goods across the border, not do business, said Aranyaprathet district chief Sawanit Suriyakul Na Ayutthaya yesterday.

He said traders can move their goods to Rong Kluea market, but they will be prohibited from travelling outside permitted areas.

Cambodian merchants with official permission to stay who remained in Thailand before the Aranyaprathet border was closed can open their businesses as usual, the district chief explained.

Meanwhile, seven Cambodian migrants were arrested in Sa Kaeo yesterday while wading through a canal along the still-closed border.

Border patrol officers yesterday apprehended seven Cambodian nationals as they made their way through Phrom Hot canal from Poipet in Cambodia to tambon Tha Kham on the Thai side, said Col Akephong Krittiyakietchuti, chief of the Border Control Unit under the 12th Ranger Forces Regiment.

The seven Cambodians admitted to illegally crossing the border to work at Det Thai market, right opposite Rong Kluea market to feed their starving families in Cambodia, according to Col Akephong.

The arrests were made as Thai authorities step up patrols along the Thai-Cambodian borders, after a number of migrant workers managed to illegally enter Thailand through natural channels over the past few days.

Separately, Defence Ministry spokesman Lt Gen Kongcheep Tantravanich said yesterday that Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon has instructed relevant authorities to proactively work to prevent workers from illegally entering the country to prevent a resurgence of Covid-19 infections.

“Authorities should do the utmost to enforce the law against those who illegally brought foreign workers in,” Lt Gen Kongcheep said.