PUBLISHED: 19 May 2025 at 14: 10
The Thai authorities official denied on Monday the reports that a Thai vessel contained the largest drug haul, generally cocaine, worth US$ 428 million.
The Aungtoe499 vessel was not discovered despite the efforts of Thai Maritime Enforcement Command Center, according to official Jirayu Huangsub.
He made reference to rumours that the Indonesian army had abandoned the ship on Tuesday last week and discovered 1.9 tons of marijuana on board.
He claimed that the vessel’s commander was a Thai national and that four of the crew members were members of Myanmar-based advertising. They did not have any identification files, though.
The Thai consulate in Jakarta was contacting the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to check whether the captain was Thai, according to the government official.
The captain’s title was not in the Thai resident database, but Baoporn Kingkaew was used, according to the spokesman. The person, according to a speaker, was born in Ranong, Myanmar, and raised there.
The seized medication, according to a previous report, contained 1.2 tonnes of methamphetamine and 705 kg of methamphetamine.