BANGKOK, March 25 — Thai police arrested a local man wanted in connection with alleged trafficking of Rohingya to Malaysia.

Bangkok Post reported that the 54-year-old man from Sadao district of the southern province of Songkhla was arrested in Samut Prakan, south of Bangkok, yesterday after seven years on the run.

Commander of Provincial Police Region 8, Pol Maj Gen Napanwut Liamsa-nguan said the man was one of 59 people wanted for trafficking 97 Rohingya in Hua Sai district in Nakhon Si Thammarat in January 2015.

He said a court in the southern province of Nakhon Si Thammarat had approved an arrest warrant in May 2015 to apprehend the man.

The man was allegedly supplying Rohingya from Myanmar and Bangladesh via Thailand to work in Malaysia.

"The suspect received 50,000 baht (RM6,230) per migrant,” Napanwut said, as quoted by Bangkok Post.

The man has been sent to Hua Sai police station in Nakhon Si Thammarat for prosecution. — Bernama