Thai police arrest Lankan migrants

Thai authorities said yesterday they had arrested 45 migrants from Sri Lanka in the latest of a series of crackdowns in recent months.

The Sri Lankans, who were rounded up at a crowded apartment in a Bangkok suburb, appear to be economic migrants hoping to travel to a third country, said Police Major General Manu Mekmok, of Thailand's Immigration Bureau.

"They either overstayed their visas or entered illegally," he said.

In October Thai authorities detained more than 200 Tamil migrants from Sri Lanka in two separate operations, but they later released some who were able to present valid travel documents. AFP