Bangkok - Thai authorities arrested 78 Rohingya boat people in Thai waters Tuesday and sought court permission to deport them amid reports that the navy shoved about 1,000 others out to sea last month, half of whom are feared drowned.

The refugees' boat was captured by the Thai navy about 2 am near Surin Island, Phang Nga province, and handed over to police to be processed for deportation back to Myanmar, said Police Colonel Veerasilp Kwansaeng.

One of the refugees, identified as Mamoot Pootseen, said the boatload of men had come from the Arakan state in western Myanmar to look for work in Thailand and Malaysia, the Khao Sot newspaper reported.

The plight of the Rohingya, a stateless Muslim minority group living in northern Arakan, Myanmar, was brought to world attention earlier this month when evidence emerged that the Thai navy had towed about 1,000 of them out to sea last month, and cut them adrift on the high seas in boats without engines or sufficient food and water.

Based on testimony of survivors picked up by the Indian and Indonesian navies, about 500 of the boat people had gone missing and were feared drowned.

The Thai military denied any abuse of human rights in handling the boat people.

The episode has proved an embarrassment for Thailand's newly appointed Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, the Oxford-educated leader of the Democrat party who has placed human rights and rule of law among his policy priorities.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has requested permission to visit the Rohingyas detained in Thailand to determine whether they are need of protection.

Their request to see 126 Rohingyas in captivity last week was foiled when Thai authorities announced that the boat people had already been "escorted" out of Thailand.

The UNHCR has also requested to see the latest batch of 78.

"We are talking with the Thai authorities about seeing them," UNHCR spokeswoman Kitty McKinsey said.

Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya is scheduled to meet with the UNHCR on February 2 in Geneva to discuss Thailand's various refugee problems.

"You can bet the Rohingya issue will come up," said McKinsey of the pending meeting. (dpa)