Massive petrol-smuggling operation uncovered in South

By Krissana Thiwatsirikul 
The Nation

 

Photo courtesy from: Thai News Agency Facebook fan page

 

Thirteen people have been arrested following the largest seizure of illegal gasoline in the South in years.
 

Soldiers and paramilitary rangers intercepted 290,000 litres of petrol being smuggled at a pier in Nakhon Si Thammarat’s Tha Sala district early Wednesday morning. 

 

Customs and excise officials inspected the gasoline and vehicles before turning the matter and the suspects over to the police.

 

Fourth Army Region deputy commander Maj-General Jatuporn Kalamphasut led the operation, which involved a stake-out at the pier in Ban Tha Sung Bon.

 

Two modified 20-metre vessels, the Ore Feungfa and Khajornlarp, docked at the pier with 290,000 litres of gasoline in their holds. 

 

Officials also impounded four 18-wheel trucks and a six-wheel truck parked nearby ready to take on the shipment. 

 

The 13 suspects apprehended included the boats’ skippers and crewmembers and the truck drivers. Several boat crewmembers jumped into the sea and escaped arrest.

 

Officials claimed that Somsak Narongdech, skipper of the Ore Feungfa, confessed he had received the shipment in international waters and was going to offload it to the trucks, but he didn’t know the final destination. 

 

He reportedly said he handled six or seven such shipments a month.

 

Yothin Pengsawat, driver of one of the 18-wheel trucks, purportedly said he was supposed to take the petrol to a customer in Nakhon Sawan.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/around_thailand/30366150

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2019-03-20

This has been going on for decades. Working in Kelantan during the 90's such seizures were regularly reported with shipments coming from Malaysia and offloaded as noted in the article.

 

Too much money at stake to close down the operations, merely need to offer up some low level scapegoats and a few boats, that will eventually be released back into the program, to give the impression of a 'crack down'.

We love our small gas stations in Hat Yai, as they offer environmental friendly 95 octane benzine without ethanol. Even policemen filling their motorcycles at those stations. Photo by google maps.

23 hours ago, webfact said:

He reportedly said he handled six or seven such shipments a month.

And that's just one skipper.

Where's the Royal Navy with all this illegal boat traffic?

Cheese Whiz, these vessels must be traveling in convoys for international waters pickups.

Surely the navy has some clues about the origins of these illegal offshore transshipments.

• Working routes in a triangle of sea anchored by Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore and encompassing the oil facilities of Malaysia, the smugglers take advantage of a difficult-to-patrol sea and enticing black market prices.  https://royaldutchshellgroup.com/2018/01/18/shady-triangle-southeast-asias-illegal-fuel-market/