Thai nationals arrested for smuggling wildlife from Indonesia

Thai police apprehended two men yesterday for smuggling wildlife from Indonesia into Thailand. The Natural Resources and Environmental Crime Suppression Division (NED), working with various agencies, detained the two suspects in Lam Thap district, Krabi.

The suspects, 28 year old Thosaphon and 30 year old Somporn were found with 10 yellow tortoises, 11 Moluccan cockatoos, and other wildlife species.

A tip-off from the US Fish and Wildlife Service led to the operation. The information indicated that a wildlife smuggling network was transporting animals from Sumatra, Indonesia, through Satun province into Thailand, aiming to sell them in Bangkok or abroad.

During interrogation, Thosaphon and Somporn reportedly confessed to being hired by a man known only as Bang to deliver the animals to Chatuchak Market in Bangkok.

The suspects were charged with possession of protected and controlled wildlife without authorisation. They were handed over to investigators for further legal proceedings and to expand the investigation into the smuggling network, reported Pattaya News.

In related news, officers at Mae Sot Customs in the northern province of Tak arrested two Chinese men for wildlife trafficking on July 29. Mae Sot Customs officers told Channel 7 that they stopped a suspicious pickup truck at the Huay Kralok community in the Mae Sot district of Tak at about 2pm on Sunday, July 28.

Officers found that the Chinese nationals had not declared to the police the items they had brought into Thailand. Police searched the car and found two animals in white foam boxes on the truck, including a 12-kilogramme crocodile and a 9-kilogramme cobra.

In other news, Thai police carried out a sting operation in Bueng Kan on June 4, aimed at thwarting an illegal wildlife trafficking scheme involving a tiger cub. The sellers were seeking to profit 300,000 baht (US$8,200) from the illicit sale.