Foreign pirate duo nabbed in Phuket raid

PHUKET: Two alleged foreign copyright pirates were arrested in a raid by Phuket police yesterday.

High-ranking provincial officers along with Patong Police Superintendent Arayapan Pukbuakhao led the search on a warehouse off Nanai Road in Patong.

The warehouse tenants named as Truong Van Doan, 33, and Tong Vankorn of Vietnam, were arrested at the scene, police said.

Police seized about 10,000 pirated watches in the raid with a street value of about five million baht.

Among the pirated high-end brand names found were Rolex, Omega, Cartier, AquaMarin Carina, Patek Philippe, Casio, Breitling, Bulgari and Tag Heuer.

Most of the watches were high-quality knockoffs to be sold for 5,000 to 10,000 baht each, police said.

Mr Truong told police that the watches were shipped, by a man he named as “Arping”, from China to Bangkok before being transferred to Phuket.

The Vietnamese pirate duo then allegedly distributed the goods to shop stalls in Patong, Karon, Kata, Kamala and other popular tourist places in Phuket.

— Yodsak Jarana