Former flight attendant arrested in Hat Yai over alleged migrant-smuggling network

SONGKHLA — 15 October 2026, Immigration police have arrested a 34-year-old former airline flight attendant, identified only as Pan, over allegations she helped foreign nationals enter and leave Thailand illegally.

Police said Pan was among five people arrested on Thursday, 15 October, during a same-day operation in Hat Yai and at the Padang Besar immigration checkpoint.

Officers said they had learned that two Chinese men had entered Thailand from Malaysia through an informal border route in Narathiwat and were staying at a hotel in central Hat Yai before travelling onwards.

Police said the men, identified only as Huang and Hwang, came down to the hotel car park, where Pan arrived in a hired vehicle to collect them. Officers then approached the group and requested to see their passports.

The two men allegedly admitted entering Thailand through a natural border crossing. Police said Pan had been instructed to collect them, arrange passports and take them to Bangkok.

In a related operation, police said Pan had previously taken a 25-year-old woman identified as Mila to Hat Yai airport, where she was due to be handed to another broker for an alleged attempt to cross into Malaysia.

Police initially identified Mila as a Vanuatu national. Officers followed the vehicle that collected her and alerted immigration officers at the Padang Besar checkpoint, where it was stopped.

A 39-year-old Thai man, identified only as Isra, was driving the vehicle, police said. Mila was allegedly found hidden on the back seat beneath clothing.

Police said Mila initially claimed that she had entered Thailand legally and showed officers an image of travel documents belonging to a similar-looking friend. Officers said the documents did not belong to her.

Pan and Isra were charged with assisting or sheltering foreign nationals who had entered Thailand illegally to help them evade arrest. The three foreign nationals were charged with entering and remaining in Thailand without permission.

Police said the five suspects included three Chinese nationals, one Thai national and one Vanuatu national. However, officers later alleged that Mila was in fact Chinese, and said they were investigating possible links to a network involved in passport and nationality-document fraud.

During questioning, police said Pan told them she had worked as a flight attendant for an airline in China before leaving to study in Thailand. They alleged that she later acted as a coordinator for Chinese nationals seeking to travel into and out of Thailand through both legal and illegal channels.

Police said they found a second Mexican passport on one of the Chinese men, as well as images on Pan’s phone of Vanuatu passports held by several Chinese nationals. The investigation is ongoing.