Nearly 450 Cambodians who were illegally working in Thailand were repatriated across the Battambang province border on Saturday in one of the largest one-day operations along that border, officials said yesterday.

Thai authorities had rounded up the 447 workers, who were busted without the required paperwork, as part of a co-operation agreement between authorities in Battambang and bordering Thai province Chan Buri that was inked in June.

Many of the Cambodians repatriated over the weekend had been jailed for their illegal entry into Thailand, said Yos Sereiroth, deputy police chief of immigration at Battambang’s Dong International checkpoint.

“Some had been imprisoned in Thailand from one to four years after being convicted on the charge of illegal trespassing and working,” Sereiroth said.

Chea Sophat, governor of Komrieng district, through which the 447 illegals migrants returned, said that border authorities in both Cambodia and Thailand vowed to halt cross-border crimes like illegal migration.

“The illegal workers still cross to work in Thailand under the persuasion of trafficking ringleaders despite the frequent offering of education because most of them are poor and low-educated,” Sophat said.

to contact the reporter on this story: Kim Yuthana at [email protected]