The 92 Thai nationals arrested by the Myanmar army for occupying an illegal rubber plantation in Myanmar territory are expected to receive six-month prison terms, Thai officials say.
Myanmar authorities have finished investigating and questioning the suspects and would take them to court on July 27, said Col Pornsak Poonsawat, the Thai co-chairman of the Thai-Myanmar Township Border Committee (TBC). The information came from Thai officials in Myanmar's Koh Song province, he said.
The 92 Thais have been charged with illegal entry and encroaching on state forest land. It was believed the court would rule to incarcerate each of them for six months.
Myanmar soldiers arrested the Thais from Ban Inthaninkwan in Ranong’s Kra Buri district on July 4 for allegedly encroaching on more than 6,000 rai of Myanmar territory.
At the time it was claimed that the Thais had been deceived by unnamed brokers into occupying the land in the poorly demarcated area, and told they would have steady work and income growing rubber.
The state-controlled New Light of Myanmar newspaper said at the time that soldiers had seized illicit drugs and weapons from the Thais. The newspaper said soldiers seized nine assault rifles, 11 "homemade" guns and a landmine, but that no shots were fired during the raids in the southeastern Tanintharyi region.
Myanmar authorities were investigating further to press additional charges against some of the Thai farmers, Col Pornsak said.
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