SONGKHLA: Officers have seized 159 illegal slot machines from two shophouses in Sadao district and detained two men for questioning.
Col Woradet Detraksa, commander of the 5th Infantry Regiment's task force, led a combined military-police team to search the two shophouses in tambon Samnak Kham in Sadao district near the Thai-Malaysian border on Saturday.
The team found 159 horse-racing slot machines and other gambling machine parts inside the two shophouses.
Two men -- Suraporn Sarikbut, 63, of Chiang Mai, and Somporn Nuengtaeng, 45, of Nonthaburi -- who were caretakers of the houses were detained for questioning. All slot machines were seized.
The team was acting on a tip-off that many slot machines smuggled from the Ban Dan Nok border checkpoint were hidden in these two houses before being delivered to other areas.
Two shophouses in Sadao district, Songkhla, are used as places to store slot machines smuggled across the border. (Photo by Assawin Pakkawan)
A military-police team inspects illegal horse-racing machines inside the two shophouses in Sadao district, Songkhla, and detains two men for questioning during a raid on Saturday. (Photo by Assawin Pakkawan)