KANCHANABURI - Two men were arrested and more than four tonnes of smuggled seafood seized along a route near a natural border crossing in Sangkha Buri district late Thursday evening.
Soldiers from the Latya task force, border patrol police and local officials pursued two suspected pickup trucks along the natural route after the drivers used this route to evade officers at the Ban Nam Kerk security checkpoint.
The team later intercepted the vehicles behind upland agricultural areas in tambon Nong Lu of Sangkhla Buri at about 5.30pm.
Somchai Wattanapreechanukul, a 32-year-old resident of Nong Lu, was driving a pickup truck with Kanchanaburi licence plates, while another driver identified only as Safong, 34, also from Nong Lu, drove a pickup truck with Nakhon Pathom licence plates. Both were arrested after officers discovered that the vehicles were loaded with untaxed seafood.
Smuggled fish of various species, weighing more than 4,400 kg, were seized from the two pickup trucks near the Myanmar border in Sangkhla Buri district, Kanchanaburi province. (Photo: Piyarach Chongcharoen)
The seized seafood consisted mostly of various fish species, weighing 4,497 kilogrammes in total, with a combined value of about 365,230 baht, said the arresting team.
During questioning, the two men admitted that they had driven their pickup trucks to cross the border and transport seafood from a border village in Myanmar’s Phayatonezu township opposite the Three Pagodas Pass in Nong Lu.
They were hired for 8,000 baht each to smuggle the seafood into the old airport area behind a border patrol police checkpoint at Songkalia village in Nong Lu, with payment to be received after the successful delivery.
Soldiers inspect boxes containing smuggled seafood seized from the two pickup trucks in Sangkhla Buri. (Photo: Piyarach Chongcharoen)
