A 100-strong combined unit of soldiers, police and forestry officials were dispatched to Nanthaburi National Park in Nan's Tha Wang Pha district on Tuesday for investigation after an incident in which forestry official was hurt and a forest poaching suspect was abducted by villagers on Monday.
The unit is led by Col Setthapol Kettem, chief-of-staff of the Nan Army Circle.
The incident occurred after Thonglor Warin, chief of the Nanthaburi National Park, led a team of officials to Huay Khun forest in the Nam Yao-Nam Suat forest reserve where about 13 rai of land had been encroached to make a ginger farm.
The officials arrested Yia Sae Her, a Hmong tribesman of Ban Khek Noi of Phetchabun's Khao Kho district, and seized two tractors which belonged to Rit Thanakhwang, a villager of Ban Nasai in tambon Saen Thong of Nan's Tha Wang Pha district.
While taking the suspect and the seized items out of the area, the officials were blocked by a group of about ten villagers and a clash ensued. Chatchawan Piangyang, a forestry official, was hurt and later admitted to Tha Wang Pha Hospital. The mobsters took away the suspect.
Col Setthapol said villagers from Sob Khun and Nam Kat villages in Phayao's Pong district had encroached on forest reserves to lease land to Hmong people from Khek Noi village in Khao Kho district of Phetchabun province to grow ginger.
The villagers who attacked the officials would be summoned for investigation, he said.
The combined team of officials also found that about 50 rai land in the Nam Yao - Nam Suat forest reserve had been cleared for cultivation.