Five members of a car and motorcycle theft gang were arrested preparing to smuggle vehicles to Cambodia by boat at a beach in Trat’s southern Khong Yai district in the early hours of Friday.
Acting on a tip-off, a combined team of navy marines and local officials went to a beach in tambon Mairood and found 10 men preparing to load stolen vehicles onto a green barge with twin longtail engines around 1.30am on Friday.
The men immediately attempted to flee the beach, but five of them were apprehended.
A total of 16 vehicles were seized at the spot -- a new Toyota Fortuner with a Bangkok licence plate, a six-wheel truck and 14 motorcycles.
The five captured suspects were named as: Apichart Srimamai, 30, the truck driver; a Cambodian man identified only as Kop, the boat driver; Od Suksawat, 66; Wirat Klinbudfung, 30; Thawatchai Jitthantham, 24. The five other gang members made good their escape.
Capt Yutthana Sradee, head of the marines unit, said the arrests followed information that car thieves had often smuggled stolen vehicles into Cambodian via Khlong Yai border district.