PUBLISHED: 22 Dec 2024 at 12: 58
CHUMPHON: A man was arrested with about 200 wild wildlife on his way from the deep South to Bangkok.
As a result of a tip-off about a smuggling wild animals from Indonesia to Thailand, police were tipped off that the suspect’s light Subaru, only identified as Sarawut, 43, had been stopped at a gas station on Highway 41 in the Sawi neighborhood on Saturday.
The creatures from Indonesia were smuggled into Thailand via a pier in the southwestern province of Satun, according to Pol Col Arun Wachirasrisukanya, assistant chief of the Natural Resources and Environmental Crime Suppression Division.
Authorities searched the automobile, and they discovered 17 baskets totaling approximately 200 animals. They included 70 snakes, 49 salamanders, 40 snakes, five Sulawesi keep cuscuses, four Sulawesi birds, three small-clawed animals and a Javan monkey.
The suspect claimed that a person contacted him via the LINE chat app and paid him 10,000 ringgit to drive the vehicle from Satun to Bangkok. He claimed he was informed that outlawed animals smuggling was occurring but was drawn to the money.
