Substandard steel worth 11.5 million baht has been confiscated from a plant in Chon Buri province, where six Chinese workers were found working without permits.
Chon Buri Special Steel Group is reportedly a Chinese-funded firm. The office of its Chinese investor, Teng Feng Steel, shares the premises.
Inspection team leader Thitipat Chotidechachainan said the team found the ongoing use of an induction furnace in steel production, which affects the quality of the product. As a result, 115,480 reinforcing bars, weighing over 582 tonnes and worth more than 11.5 million baht, were confiscated.
The raid came after an inspection in February where substandard steel worth 23 million baht was confiscated from Chon Buri Special Steel Group, resulting in its licence being revoked.
Six Chinese staff were detained after they were found to lack the proper work permits, said Ms Thitipat, adding they will face deportation.
The issue of substandard steel in local projects has courted controversy recently, especially after the collapse of the under-construction State Audit Office (SAO) building in Bangkok during the March 28 7.7-magnitude earthquake.
An induction furnace was also found to be the method of production for the steel used in that project, produced by Xin Ke Yuan Steel Company Limited.
Pongpol Yodmuangcharoen, an Industry Ministry spokesperson, said the Iron and Steel Institute of Thailand conducted a test on the samples of steel collected from the SAO site and found that the 20-millimetre diameter bars were of substandard quality.
The results will be included in the Department of Special Investigation's (DSI) inquiry into the cause of the collapse, he said.
This is a separate case from the legal repercussions Xin Ke Yuan Steel has faced due to its first failed steel test on March 31. This is part of the ministry's suppression of the so-called "zero-dollar industry", said Mr Pongpol, a reference to work that generates zero income and value for Thailand.
Substandard steel is the central part of these crackdown efforts, with over 384 million baht worth of the material confiscated in the past seven months, all made using an induction furnace production method, he said.
Meanwhile, rescue workers aim to reduce the pile of debris at the SAO site to the height of the ground floor of an earlier-standing structure this month. As of Wednesday, 53 bodies had been found, with 41 others believed to be still trapped.
