Extortion by Ministry of Agriculture task force exposed by senator

Extortion practices by a special task force from the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives were put in the spotlight as Senator Poldej Pinprateep levelled serious accusations against the group during a Senate debate yesterday. The Phaya Nakkharat task force, tasked with overseeing rubber production and trade, allegedly seized approximately 600 tonnes of rubber from a villager in the Sangkhla Buri district of Kanchanaburi province, according to the senator.

He stated that the rubber, valued at 15 million baht, was held for a month, leading to its degradation. The task force’s actions were justified on the basis that the origin of 29 tonnes out of the 600 tonnes was under question. Despite the villager’s clear explanation of the source of the disputed 29 tonnes of rubber, the task force reportedly refused to return the product.

Senator Pinprateep also shared an instance of a rubber grower from the southern province of Krabi’s Ao Luk district, who was allegedly falsely accused by an influential group of smuggling rubber from neighbouring countries. The grower claimed that instead of receiving assistance from the task force, he was pressured into giving some of his rubber to avoid a total seizure.

The senator went on to claim that the task force deployed around 30 cars daily to set up checkpoints and extort money from trucks transporting rubber between Thailand and neighbouring countries. He noted that the extortion rate had risen from 1,000 baht before January to 5,000 baht in subsequent months.

Responding to the accusations, Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Thammanat Prompow defended the task force, asserting their ethical operations in combating rubber smuggling. He mentioned that stringent inspections of rubber transportation between Thailand and neighbouring Myanmar through Kanchanaburi’s Sangkhla Buri were in response to local complaints about the unpleasant odour of piled-up rubber awaiting transport.

The minister also indicated that the ministry had received reports of rubber traders smuggling rubber from a neighbouring country with lower labour costs into Thailand before exporting the illicit product to Malaysia. However, he did not refute the senator’s specific allegations of extortion and abuse of authority by the task force.