DNP arrests Vietnamese trio in Bangkok, saving 1,000+ animals from illegal trafficking

Officers from the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) arrested three Vietnamese men in the Lat Phrao district of Bangkok for an illegal wildlife trafficking attempt. More than 1,000 animals were rescued.

The Watchdog Thailand Foundation (WDT) reported the wildlife trafficking to the DNP, claiming that their members had observed suspicious activities at a residence in Sinthon Village in the Bangkapi district of Bangkok. DNP officers then monitored the location and discovered a suspicious pickup going out of the house at about 6.30pm yesterday, January 9.

The WDT informed the DNP that the truck was supposed to head to the Isaan provinces near the Thailand-Laos border. However, it headed to another house in Soi Raminta 14 in the Lat Phrao district of Bangkok instead.

The driver, later identified as a 40 year old Vietnamese man named Nguyen Ngui Kui, got off the truck and unloaded cardboard from the pickup into a coach bus with the help of other two Vietnamese men, 38 year old Nguyen Din Dai and 39 year old Nguyen Thian Than.

The cupboards displayed visible holes, leading officers to believe that the three men had concealed animals within them, allowing the creatures to breathe.

The messages shown on the bus provided details of the bus services from Thailand to Laos. However, the bus was different from other international coach buses in Thailand as it had a hidden storage area where the three Vietnamese men stashed the animals.

Based on this evidence, DNP officers revealed themselves and arrested the three Vietnamese men at the scene.

Officers discovered more than 1,000 animals packed in cardboard cupboards including 21 red-whiskered bulbuls, pig-nosed turtles, Assam roofed turtles, various species of snakes, and different types of lizards. The Vietnamese suspects claimed that they bought the animals from Chatuchak Weekend Market in Bangkok.

Channel 7 reported that some of the red-whiskered bulbuls cost up to 123,000 baht. Some of them were the albinos which were more expensive than ordinary animals.

The Vietnamese men confessed that they were hired to smuggle the animals from Thailand to Laos, receiving a payment of 700 baht per box of animals and 4,000 baht per trip.

The three face a charge under Section 17 of the Wild Animal Preservation and Protection Act: possessing protected wild animals without permission. The penalty is imprisonment of up to five years, a fine of up to 500,000 baht, or both.