Thai police have uncovered a syndicate that buys Malaysian fuel and smuggles it across the border to be sold in Thailand.
According to The Sun Daily, this syndicate uses modified pickup trucks that house modified fuel tanks to transport “hundreds of thousands of litres of fuel from Malaysia to Thailand each month.”
The Thai assistant national police chief Pol Lt-Gen Surachate Hakparn said that the syndicate is known as Jae Fang. Just recently, 2 members of this syndicate have been arrested in Hat Yai, reported Bangkok Post.
“The drivers will transfer the fuel from the modified vehicles to a storage facility in Hatyai, Songkhla which is about 30 kilometres from the Thailand-Malaysia border.”
The syndicate members start up their trucks early in the morning and cross the border in the guise of “delivering” items. Then they would go to the petrol stations and fill up their tanks before they return to their warehouse and unload the fuel.
Throughout the day, they will make multiple trips like this.
“Initial investigations found a modified fuel tank can carry about 1,000 litres of fuel per trip. There are a number of pickup trucks making an average of 10 trips per day.”
The syndicate will then sell the fuel to “local fuel pumps, fishing boats and farmers.”
It’s good that more of these illegal activities are getting uncovered by the governments.
Also read: PDRM Arrests Kelantan Policeman Who Used Police Truck to Smuggle RM25k Worth of Fireworks
