NAKHON PHANOM -- An attempt to smuggle a stolen Toyota Vigo pickup across the Mekong River to Laos was foiled by a Mekong Riverine Unit patrol in Tha Uthen district early on Monday morning.
The MRU patrol spotted a group of men moving the pick-up truck down the river bank to a raft near Lao Suan Kluay village in tambon Nong Thao, Capt Nathakiat Monkhunthod, commander of the Nakhon Phanom Mekong Riverine Unit, said at a media briefing.
They moved in on the men, who fled into the nearby woods and disappeared in the dark, abandoning the pickup on the shore. They had been trying to load it onto a makeshift raft based on two long-tailed boats.
No documents were found in the vehicle, which was believed to have been stolen - although it was not clear where at this time.
According to the MRU a smuggled pickup trucks sells in Laos for 400,000 - 500,000 baht, depending on the condition. About 10 stolen pickups, most of them Toyotas, had been seized in Nakhon Phanom this year.
According to the Thai General Insurance Association, in the first five months of this year a total of 289 vehicles were stolen, a huge drop from about 1,000 during the same period last year.
The number of stolen motorcycles also dropped from about 8,000 in the first five months of 2015 to 2,000 in the same period this year.
This was a result of stricter measures to prevent smuggling of vehicles from Thailand to neighbouring countries. These included the Department of Land Transport's use of an online system to examine car registration papers, to prevent documentation from vehicles that have been wrecked being re-used with stolen vehicles.