TRAT - Police are hunting the captain of an oil tanker who is suspected of killing two of his crew and stealing cargo money while transporting diesel from Malaysia to Songkhla.
The tanker, loaded with 300,000 litres of fuel, was seized by police off the island of Koh Kood on Saturday.
Songklod Sonpungra, deputy district chief of Koh Kood, said police and naval officers inspected the oil tanker after receiving a report from a village headman about the vessel that was anchored at Ao Salad pier.
The Thai-registered vessel's name was Ocean 4 and it was transporting diesel from Malaysia to the southern province of Songkhla.
Police seize an oil tanker loaded with 300,000 litres of diesel off the island of Koh Kood in Trat province. (Post Today photo)
Pol Lt Kritsana Sawangkamol, a duty officer at Koh Kood police station, said Sunday that three men - two Thais and a Cambodian - were found on board the tanker. They were led by another man who had fled.
According to police, the man was Chaliang Mawang, a 48-year-old Kanchanaburi resident.
The three men told investigators that Mr Chaliang shot dead two Ocean 4 crew members and threw their bodies into the sea. Mr Chaliang then sailed the tanker to Trat before contacting a speed boat to pick him up. He made off with a bag containing 5 million baht that crew members had earned in selling fuel.
Police believed that Mr Chaliang was still hiding in Koh Kood.
The three men remained in police custody.