Contraband chainsaws seized at warehouse

Contraband chainsaws seized at warehouse

Police find cardboard boxes containing electric chainsaws and blades during a raid on a warehouse in Bang Phli district, Samut Prakan, on Thursday. (Photo supplied/Wassayos Ngamkham)
Police find cardboard boxes containing electric chainsaws and blades during a raid on a warehouse in Bang Phli district, Samut Prakan, on Thursday. (Photo supplied/Wassayos Ngamkham)

SAMUT PRAKAN: Police seized 96 contraband electric chainsaws and blades during a raid on a warehouse in Bang Phli district on Thursday.

Police from several agencies searched the warehouse in tambon Bang Chalong.

The warehouse owner, Chaninrat Wi-angsuthorn, was on the premises. She allegedly admitted the chainsaws had not been legally registered. 

Police charged her with violating Section 4 of the  Electric Chainsaw Act by having  electric chainsaws in her possession without permission, and violating the Customs Act. 

She was held in police custody for legal action and the 96 chainsaws and 96 blades were seized.

Natural Resources and Environmental Crime Division commander Pol Maj Gen Pitak Uthaitham, who led the raid, said the sale of unregistered electric chainsaws was illegal. Chainsaws were used by timber poachers when illegally cutting trees.

He said officers obtained a list of 152 people who had bought chainsaws from the warehouse. They would be called in for questioning and possible legal action. 

Police had on Tuesday seized 74 electric chainsaws from a warehouse in Bangkok’s Min Buri area after an officer posing as a customer contacted a Chinese trader via Lazada, he said. 

The subsequent investigation led to the warehouse in Samut Prakan.

They obtained a warrant from the Samut Prakan provincial court and searched the premises on Thursday, leading to the arrest of Ms Chaninrat and seizure of the 96 chainsaws and blades, Pol Maj Gen Pitak said.

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