On January 3, Thailand’s Consulate-General in Siem Reap reported that Cambodian immigration authorities had repatriated 162 detainees from the Siem Reap foreigner detention centre at 10 a.m. that day through a permanent border checkpoint in Chanthaburi province. They included 160 Thai nationals and two people residing in Thailand without identity registration. Royal Thai Police Inspector-General Police General Tatchai went to the site to oversee order, while Cambodia also sent numerous officials to observe operations on its side of the crossing.
Thai authorities said they had prepared a screening location to examine the returnees. Six were wanted under arrest warrants: two in alleged transnational crime cases and four in other alleged criminal cases. They were to be arrested according to law on entry. Personnel from the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security were on site to distinguish victims from people who had crossed the border illegally. Those confirmed as illegal border crossers would be handed to immigration authorities for further processing.
Of the 162 returnees, 140 held Thai passports—59 men and 81 women. Another 20 held emergency travel documents issued by Thailand’s Consulate-General in Siem Reap—15 men and five women. The remaining two people without identity registration were both male.
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