Troops raid Phuket construction site, detain undocumented workers

Troops and military police from the Fourth Army Region raided a construction site in Phuket today and detained 16 Chinese nationals and 62 undocumented workers from Myanmar for questioning.

The raid on the construction site of the ‘Ayana Heights Seaview Residence Phuket’ by the military, instead of the local police and immigration officials as should have been the case, follows a complaint to the Fourth Army Region by some Phuket residents.

Army sources said that the 16 Chinese are engineers and foremen supervising the construction work, but they do not have proper work permits. The workers are mostly undocumented migrants from Myanmar. All were taken to the Choeng Thale police station for further questioning by the police.

Phuket is currently in the spotlight following the abrupt transfer of the governor and two deputies from the province by order of Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, allegedly over an internal conflict in the provincial administration.

Like Pha-ngan Island in the Gulf, Phuket in the Andaman Sea has attracted high-end tourists and rich foreign pensioners looking for a second home or to settle down on the island. Limited land availability has sent, especially for seafront plots, skyrocketing, spurring encroachments onto state land by organised criminals and influential local figures.