Over 1,800 foreigners have been arrested for allegedly doing legally prohibited jobs in Thailand, a senior government official said on Wednesday.
Employment Department Director General Phetcharat Sin-auy said a total of 1,819 foreigners have been arrested throughout the country from last October until this month for allegedly doing jobs which are legally prohibited to them and only reserved for Thais.
Of that total, 1,518 foreigners have already been deported to their home country. Those arrested for allegedly doing prohibited jobs primarily included 999 Myanmar nationals, 290 Vietnamese, 222 Laotians and 204 Cambodians.
A sum of 9.09 million baht (about 295,580 U.S. dollars) in fine has been collected from those illegally working foreigners, each of who may have been fined a minimum of 5,000 baht (about 162 U.S. dollars) or a maximum of 50,000 baht (about 1,625 U.S. dollars), according to the director general.
Occupations legally denied to foreigners in Thailand include food vendors, peddlers, employees at karaoke lounges, employees at traditional Thai massage parlors, taxi motorcyclists, hairdressers, shoemakers, security guards, masons, carpenters, lying, cheating, stealing, drug dealing and prostitution.
