12 TONNES OF TONGUES INTERCEPTED
Eight people were arrested yesterday for allegedly smuggling 12 tonnes of buffalo tongues worth more than three million baht into the country.
Pol Col Lippanun Sornkhunkaew, the superintendent of Border Patrol Police Division 23, said eight suspects were arrested at a warehouse in Mukdahan province with 600 boxes of frozen buffalo tongues weighing 12 tonnes.
Buffalo tongues are not allowed to be imported into the country and the eight face punishment if convicted, Pol Col Lippanun said.
Pol Col Lippanun said his men were tipped off about a load of contraband being smuggled by boat from Laos to Thailand in the Banna Po Noi area in Mukdahan province. Police then asked for cooperation from the army’s Peace and Order Maintaining Command in Mukdahan, the Department of Livestock Development, the Customs Department, the Excise Department and Border Patrol Police to launch a raid, Pol Col Lippanun said.
A combined team then raided a warehouse on Samranchaikong Road near the Mekong River and found men loading boxes into containers on pickup trucks.
A search of the trucks uncovered wellpacked boxes containing frozen buffalo tongues.
Police said they seized four pickups with Bangkok, Khon Kaen and Nakhon Pathom licence plates and frozen buffalo tongues in 600 boxes, each weighing 20 kilograms, as evidence.
The total of 12 tonnes of tongues was estimated to cost about three million baht, according to authorities. One suspect, Chai Sangsok, 43, told police he was paid 5,000 baht per trip to transport the buffalo parts to customers in Bangkok.
Buffalo tongues are considered a delicacy in some countries, including Thailand, Mr Chai said. Pol Col Lippanun said buffalo tongues were checked through the Customs Department at Laem Chabang in Chon Buri province and were cleared to be taken to Laos. The cargo then passed through the Customs Department in Mukdahan on its way to Laos.
They were then smuggled from Laos back to Thailand on boats, according to authorities. The tongues were originally imported from India.
Police named the other suspects as Ronnarit Ittarasuk, 28; Thorayakarn Wilawon, 27; Wijitra Lohasarn, 38; Somchai Khlongjing, 48; Chatchai Tuaythongkham, 28; Pramuan Bootthod, 47, and Wanchana Phanwongsa, from Laos.