Three vessels reportedly carrying 330,000 litres of contraband diesel that went missing from a police pier in Chon Buri last week are near Malaysian waters, according to police.
Pol Maj Gen Charoonkiat Pankaew, deputy commissioner of the Central Investigation Bureau, said on Sunday that the three boats that disappeared from the marine police pier in Sattahip district of Chon Buri on Wednesday last week travelled into Cambodian and then Vietnamese waters before being located off southern Thailand.
Thai police coordinated efforts with their counterparts in the neighbouring countries to pressure those on the three vessels to surrender. "They receive good cooperation and the possible outcome is positive," Pol Maj Gen Charoonkiat said.
The deputy commissioner confirmed that police were trying their best to follow the vessels because they could not tolerate the theft right from the marine police unit in Chon Buri.
The police officers responsible for the loss of the seized vessels would face charges of dereliction of duty causing serious damage to the government, Pol Maj Gen Charoonkiat said.
Marine police commander Pol Maj Gen Pritthipong Nuchanart said marine police were responsible for the case.
He said reports that the three vessels were in Cambodian waters were not verified and there were reports that they remained in the high seas near Malaysia.
According to the marine police commander, the contraband oil aboard the three vessels had a market price of about 3 million baht in total or about 10-12 baht a litre, so the value was not so high.
He did not think the thieves wrongdoers would unload the contraband oil from the ships onto other vessels, because the value of the ships was estimated at about 5 million baht each. It would be unfeasible to steal the oil and discard the ships, Pol Maj Gen Pritthipong said.
The local marine police station in Sattahip reported at 6am on Wednesday last week that three of the five modified fishing boats confiscated in an oil smuggling case had disappeared. They had been moored in a "safe area" about 100 metres away from the marine police pier.
The missing boats have been identified as the J.P. with 80,000 litres of contraband oil and seven crew members; the Seahorse with 150,000 litres of untaxed oil and six crew; and the Daorung with 100,000 litres of untaxed oil and five crew.
Police said that on Sunday, storms and strong winds hit Sattahip. The pier could not safely accommodate five confiscated vessels, so marine police ordered all five to be anchored about 100 metres away from the pier.
The five vessels at the Sattahip pier had all been confiscated in connection with oil smuggling.
Later there were reports that marine police seized the three vessels and would escort them to the southern province of Songkhla on Monday.
Pol Maj Gen Pritthipong, the marine police commander, said later on Sunday that the three vessels were found in an overlapping claims area of Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam. Only eight of 16 crewmembers of the three vessels were arrested and parts of their oil disappeared.
He said that the vessels earlier docked in Cambodia and there were attempts to repaint them.
