Illegal Thai job seekers bound for Korea caught

More than 30 Thais planning to illegally seek jobs in South Korea were stopped at Suvarnabhumi airport on Tuesday night, while another group on the same night filed complaints after paying more than 3 million baht and being stranded by job brokers.

Arun Chaiyan, chief of the airport employment office, said he and his staff stopped over 30 male and female job seekers while they were checking in as tourists at the airport. Employment officers received information that Thais aged between 35-50 were planning to seek jobs in South Korea with the help of brokers. The officers then randomly interviewed the passengers.

The group initially denied the allegations and said they paid 20,000-40,000 baht for a tour package. However, the officers found messages on their mobile phones identifying job descriptions and the wages they expected to get. The group later confessed and admitted planning to seek work illegally.

Meanwhile, 36 people from Nakhon Ratchasima province filed complaints with police at the airport that they were lured by job brokers to pay about 70,000 baht to work in South Korea, but on arrival at the airport, found they could no longer contact the brokers.

Somjai Chobsuan, 39, said they took passenger vans from Nakhon Ratchasima to the airport and brought only their baggage, without any passports or air tickets, following the advice of Prapit Khamma and three others who presented themselves as job brokers.

Ms Prapit told them that they would get an agricultural job and will be paid 40,00060,000 baht a month. She borrowed money from a loan shark to pay for the travel fees.

Meanwhile, Ms Prapit, who was also present with the group, said she knew a saleswoman identified only as Oil at a shopping mall in Phimai district of Nakhon Ratchasima. She noticed that Ms Oil regularly bought hundreds of government lottery tickets each time so she started talking to her.

Ms Oil later told her about the job opportunity saying she was a sister of a woman who was married to an orchard owner. Ms Somjai then shared the news with her friends.

Ms Oil instructed the group to apply for passports, then told them to send the passports via mail to a person in Pathum Thani, Ms Prapit said. They were also told to transfer the travel fees to a woman identified only as Lamai. Over the past four months, 47 people have transferred more than 3,290,000 baht to Ms Lamai.

Ms Prapit said Ms Oil on Tuesday told them to take passenger vans to the airport, and said they needed to pay an extra 2,000 baht each due to an increase in the air ticket prices. But from early morning until late at night, they could not find Ms Oil or anyone waiting for them at the airport.

Police recorded their complaints and advised them to file complaints in Nakhon Ratchasima. They also contacted the Labour Ministry.