Police are investigating the disappearance of three boats with 330,000 litres of contraband oil and 18 crewmen from a marine police pier in Sattahip district of Chon Buri.
The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) has set up a fact-finding committee after receiving a report from the Marine Police Division (MPD) about the disappearance.
Pol Lt Gen Jirabhop Bhuridej, the CIB commissioner, said he had assigned his deputy, Pol Maj Gen Jaroonkiat, to go to Sattahip to investigate.
The local marine police station in Sattahip reported at 6am on Wednesday that three of the five vessels that had been confiscated in an oil smuggling case were gone. They had been moored in a safe area, about 100 metres away from the marine police pier.
Two patrol boats were dispatched to search for the three vessels. However, they have not yet been found.
The missing boats have been identified as the J.P. with 80,000 litres of contraband oil and 7 crew members; the Seahorse with 150,000 litres of untaxed oil and 6 crew; and the Daorung with 100,000 litres of untaxed oil and 5 crew.
Police said that on Sunday, storms and strong winds hit Sattahip. Their pier could not safely accommodate five confiscated vessels, so marine police ordered all five to be anchored about 100 metres away from the pier.
Pol Maj Gen Jaroonkiat said the five vessels at the Sattahip pier had all been confiscated on March 17 in connection with oil smuggling.
Marine police who were on the night shift reported seeing all five vessels turn on their lights at about 8pm on Tuesday. The lights were turned off about 10pm. On Wednesday morning, three of the boats were gone.
A source familiar with the investigation said the three vessels belonged to a network run by “Joe Namman Thuen“, also known as “Joe Pattani”, said to be a major oil smuggler in the South.