Dozens of Burmese migrant workers were rounded up during a raid over two days by the police in Chiang Mai, in northern Thailand.

Twenty policemen came to a place in Chiang Mai where Burmese migrants go to get daily-wage jobs and arrested 29 illegal migrants. About 40 Burmese migrants were arrested at the same place yesterday.

The first batch of detainees was deported back to the Burma border yesterday following a short detention at the immigration camp.

Thai security sources said apparently it was the increasing number of Burmese workers in Chiang Mai that had led to the police raid.

Myint Wai from the Thai Action Committee for Democracy in Burma (TACDB) said that raid was related “to make Burmese workers stay legally with work permits and also from the security point of view of the government.”

“Moreover, it is also to implement the deal between the Thailand and Burmese governments to issue passports to Burmese migrant workers,” he said.

An immigration officer on condition of anonymity said “Burmese migrant workers violate regulations such as working outside their respective territory, working in construction sites though they hold work permit cards for house maids among other jobs.”