THE National Anti-Corruption Commission’s “Andaman Shark Task Force” yesterday (March 25) mounted a sting operation at Similan National Park, off Phang Nga province, and found that several boats fraudulently under reported the number of tourists they brought to the islands and even those with E-tickets these were cheaper ones for Thais, Naewna newspaper said today.
Led by Mr. Suchart Kruakitanon and Mr. Thawichat Nilkan, both assistant secretaries-general of the NACC Region 8, and accompanied by other officials plus 30 staff members, the task force stealthily arrived at islands number four and eight then asked Mr. Ritthikorn Nunloi, a forestry expert and acting chief of Similan National Park, to carry out an inspection.
Suchart said this mission was to follow up on issuing E-tickets to visit Similan Islands with this national park being the first where 100% were issued electronically.
The officials and staff split up into groups and checked the boats as they brought tourists to the islands by scanning the QR code of the tour guides to determine how many E-tickets had been purchased.
E-tickets for Thais are cheaper, costing 100 baht for an adult and 50 baht a child while for foreigners it is 500 baht for an adult and 250 baht a child.
After working for four hours and inspecting approximately 15 private boats it was found that some had reported that they were bringing only five tourists while in fact their boats were filled with 50-60 holidaymakers each.
Some boats had reported that they were bringing 10-20 Thai tourists but in fact there were almost no Thais among the 50 on board.
The graft-busters also noticed that park employees on duty did not count the total number of tourists only counting those arriving in some boats by sight then adding up on a machine. When the team pointed out the discrepancies, they issued tickets for the tour guides to pay a fine to an authorised person.
Data shows that over 40,000 Thai tourists visited the national park each month but from observation it was clear there were rarely any Thai tourists with almost 100% being foreigners with this being another clear discrepancy.
Surchart said a way had to be found to fix this problem to strictly control visits to this national park because even though the tickets are issued electronically, the checking and counting is done manually.
Ritthikorn, the acting chief of Similan National Park, said when random inspection found that these tourist boats had not correctly stated the number of visitors they were bringing in they were fined 5,000 baht the first time with the range being 5,000 to 10,000 baht per day.
Other offenses too are committed such as catching turtles and if offenders are not fined, legal action is taken against them, he added.
Initially, the Andaman Shark Task Force is going to thoroughly examine the evidence and documents and closely monitor the situation. If any officials are found to have colluded with business operators in this ticket scam action will be taken against them
However later Mr. Atthaphon Charoenchansa, director-general of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, ordered the transfer of Ratthikorn out of this area while a fact-finding committee investigates the ticket fraud.
CAPTION:
The “Andaman Shark Task Force” team at Similan National Park and foreign tourists arriving at one of the islands. Photos: Naewna
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