Six men, one a Chinese timber trader, were caught and a large quantity of illegally cut phayung (rosewood) and pradu tree logs destined for China were seized during a raid on a warehouse in Samut Prakan’s Bang Phli district on Thursday.
The timber is worth an estimated 30 million baht.
Deputy national police chief Srivara Ransibrahmanakul and Chaiwat Limlikit-aksorn, head of the Paya Sua special task force of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, on Thursday led a team of police and forestry officials to search a warehouse at Soi Nam Daeng-Bang Phli 17 in tambon Bang Kaew.
They discovered many logs of protected phayung and pradu trees packed in nine large shipping boxes.
The five workers at the warehouse were arrested. One of them led officers to arrest a Chinese man identified only as Hong, a major timber trader in Bangkok’s Sathon district, Thai media reported.
The arresting team had been closely watching Mr Hong. The Chinese wood trader had reportedly ordered a Thai man identified only as Somchai to procure the logs, which were mostly poached from Khao Yai, Thap Lan and Sida national parks. The timber was destined for China.
Authorities had information that more than 100 boxes of logs had already been shipped from this warehouse to China. The owner will be asked to show the rent contracts to police.
The wood trader was initially charged with illegally having wood from protected tree species in his possession and attempting to export the protected wood.