Foundation for Education and Development (FED)'s Mae Sot branch delivered emergency supplies to the migrant workers who escaped the surprise raid by Thai police and immigration.

On the second of this month, the news broke of a surprise raid for illegal migrant workers working in factories in Mae Sot and the vicinity. Thousands of workers had no time to prepare and suddenly fled from their places at midnight.

A worker from S R Knitting (12) wool factory exclaimed that, "Our Boss didn't tell us that there was a surprise-raid by police and made us work as usual. At 11 PM, some workers came to warn us about the police raid. At that time, the Boss asked the workers if we had parents, relatives or friends in Mae Sot. While the workers were in shock, the Boss prepared trucks to be sent to Welkala monastery. Meanwhile, others hid in the forest, group by group".

Because there was no time to prepare, the migrant workers faced difficulties in their hiding places. FED’s Mae Sot branch delivered emergency supplies to them on the fourth of September.

Ko Banyar, in charge of FED's Mae Sot branch, said, "We mainly delivered necessities such as rice, cooking oil, salt, noodle packages, food, water and medicine for around 150 people. We will assess the situation and deliver more."

A worker from a mirror frame factory, also known as CN Garment Factory, told her story. "We have worked here for almost 2 years with no documents. But, some others do have documents. Our employer said that there was police raid and let us leave for 5 days and gave us 500 baht each" she said.

According to the estimate of local residents, the launched operation raided at least 3 factories and arrested at least 300 workers.