Chaos at Chanthaburi border as Cambodia closes checkpoint without warning

Hundreds of Cambodian-owned trucks, laden with Thai goods, and Cambodian migrant workers have become stranded in Thailand as Cambodian immigration officials have, without warning, closed the permanent border checkpoint at Ban Laem in Pong Namron district of Chanthaburi province today.

A commotion occurred in front of the checkpoint at about 10.45am today when the gate was slammed shut by Cambodian immigration officials, resulting in hundreds of trucks, whose Cambodian owners came to Pong Namron district to buy Thai goods, being unable to return to Cambodia.

Many Cambodians who crossed the border to work in Thailand this morning, planning to return home this evening, attempted to rush back home when they learned about the sudden border closure, only to discover that the checkpoint was already closed.

At about 11.10am, Cambodian officials opened the gate to allow waiting Cambodians to return, but trucks were not allowed to cross.

A Cambodian vendor, named “Ra”, told a Thai PBS reporter that there was no sign that the border checkpoint would be closed when he crossed into Thailand’s Ban Laem this morning, to sell goods at a border market as normal.

He said that, when he heard about the closure, he instructed his wife and children to rush back home first and that he would join them later. He says he does not know when the border will reopen.

Meanwhile, the Chong Chom permanent checkpoint in Karb Choeng district of Thailand’s Surin province was alive with trading activity this morning, as many Thai trucks queued up to cross into Cambodia to buy agricultural produce.

Meanwhile, Cambodian migrant workers, who came into Thailand to work at construction sites in Surin, sought permission from their employers to leave earlier today, so they could get home before the checkpoint closed at 3pm on the Thai side and 4pm on the Cambodian side.

The Chong Chom border checkpoint is only open on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.