PUBLISHED: 27 Dec 2024 at 13: 18
In Sangkha Buri area, two men were detained and more than four tons of smuggled seafood were found close to a healthy border crossing late on Thursday evening.
After the owners evaded officials at the Ban Nam Kerk security station, two suspected pickup trucks were pursued along the natural way by Latya Task Force men, border police officers, and local officials.
Around 5.30pm, the team later interrogated the vehicles driving behind upland agricultural areas in Sangkhla Buri’s tambon Nong Lu.
Somchai Wattanapreechanukul, a 32-year-old resident of Nong Lu, was driving a pickup truck with Kanchanaburi licence plates, while another driver identified only as Safong, 34, also from Nong Lu, drove a pickup truck with Nakhon Pathom licence plates. After officers discovered that the vehicles had been loaded with seafood that had not been taxed, both were detained.
Smuggled fish of various species, weighing more than 4, 400 kg, were seized from the two pickup trucks near the Myanmar border in Sangkhla Buri district, Kanchanaburi province. ( Photo: Piyarach Chongcharoen )
The seized seafood consisted mostly of various fish species, weighing 4, 497 kilogrammes in total, with a combined value of about 365, 230 baht, said the arresting team.
The two men admitted during questioning that they had used their pickup trucks to travel across the border and to ship seafood from a border village in Phayatonezu township, a township in Myanmar, to the Three Pagodas Pass in Nong Lu.
The seafood was smuggled into Songkalia Village in Nong Lu for 8, 000 baht each, with payment being received after the successful delivery.
Soldiers inspect boxes containing smuggled seafood from Sangkhla Buri’s two pickup trucks. ( Photo: Piyarach Chongcharoen )