NAKHON SI THAMMARAT: A BMW car has been found buried in an oil palm plantation in Chalerm Prakiat district.
It was detected by a worker collecting palm nuts at Ban Bang Nok Kwak in tambon Suan Luang on Tuesday.
Village headman Anant Chukaeo, the plantation owner, reported the find to police.
Police ordered that a backhoe be used to clear the soil away from the car and lift it out on Tuesday night, and crime scene investigators examined it.
The silver BMW had no licence plates or registration documents. There were no bodies in the car, as people suspected when it was first found. It had no roof and appeared to have been stripped of some parts.
Pol Maj Gen Somchai Suetortrakul, the provincial police chief, said it was not known when the vehicle was buried. Investigators would check the chassis and engine numbers to identify the owner.
They would also question the village headman, to find out if he had been previously aware there was a car buried in his plantation.
Investigators were comparing the BMW against reports of unrecovered stolen cars, and looking to see what parts had been removed.
He said drug traffickers who used stolen cars often sold parts to automobile repair shops.