Two Thai men were arrested for allegedly smuggling dozens of Rohingya refugees into Thailand.

Seksan Krasao, 21, and Pitak Tharnnaklang, 30, reportedly trafficked the ethnic minorities inside a cramped closed van through Tak province along Thailand's border with Myanmar.

They allegedly abandoned 10 Rohingya - two men who died on the trip and eight others left for dead - near the Wat Khao Sek Wanaram temple in Chumphon province on October 17.

They then resumed the journey to the southern province of Songkhla near the Malaysian border but were nabbed by highway police in Phetchaburi province on October 18.

Police Colonel Chalard Palanakarn, superintendent of the Lang Suan Police Station, said they received a reported from villagers who found the exhausted foreigners wandering near the Wat Khao Sek Wanaram temple grounds.

He said the Rohingya were taken to the Lang Suan and Thung Tako Hospitals for treatment while the deceased will undergo post-mortem exams.

He said: 'From the inspection of the scene, there were many water bottles and tyre marks from a pickup truck carrying heavy loads on the dirt road. The evidence was collected for investigation. We believe the suspects had used the dirt road as there were many police checkpoints along the main roads.'

A rescued Rohingya survivor told police that 26 of them had travelled from Rakhine State to the Mae Sot district, where the Thai men had picked them up on October 14. They reportedly paid 100,000 THB to be taken to Malaysia and were said to have endured an entire day standing inside the closed van without food.

Residents Thai resident Sowat Sakdam, 62, said one of the abandoned passengers had begged him for food and drink using gestures before they were rescued by police.

The suspects Seksan and Pitak were hauled to the Lang Suan Police Station. They were charged with 'acting negligently causing the death of another person' and 'assisting foreigners in illegal entering Thailand'.

Police said the investigation was being expanded to find potential links to larger human trafficking rings.

The Rohingya are a predominantly Muslim ethnic group from Myanmar's Rakhine State, who have faced decades of persecution and denial of citizenship by the Myanmar government. In recent years, widespread violence and ethnic cleansing have forced hundreds of thousands of Rohingya to flee to neighboring countries, particularly Bangladesh, where they live in refugee camps.