THAI Marine Police have taken control of three oil-smuggling boats that disappeared from a pier in Sattahip, Chonburi, last Tuesday night (June 11) and they are expected to sail back to southern Songkhla port tomorrow, TV Channel 7 said this evening (June 16)
Pol. Lt. Gen Kraiboon Suadsong, director of National Police Oil Smuggling Suppression Centre, said upon being pressured to surrender within 24 hours the crews of the missing large boats agreed to do so yesterday after succeeding in fleeing to international waters then entering Malaysian territorial waters.
Thai Marine Police boats have surrounded and taken control of all three boats and they are expected to be brought to Songkhla port in southern Thailand tomorrow, he added.
These three boats are among five that were seized and moored at the Marine Police pier in Sattahip. They belong to “Sia Joe Pattani” or “Joe Nam Mun Thuen (Joe Contraband Oil)”, a big oil smuggling racketeer in the South who has fled overseas to escape arrest.
While the three boats that disappeared still carried oil, the other two were without this contraband cargo.
One of the three boats, named J.P., was carrying 80,000 litres of contraband oil and had seven crew members, the second, Sea Hot, held 150,000 litres of contraband oil and had six crew members while the third, Dao Rung, had about 100,000 litres of contraband oil and five crew members.
CAPTION:
The oil-smuggling boats that disappeared from Marine Police pier in Sattahip last Tuesday night. Top photo: Amarin TV, Front Page photo: Naewna
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