BUENG KAN – Pol. Maj. Gen. Watcharin Poosit, Commander of the Natural Resources and Environmental Crime Suppression Division (NED), ordered officers on June 4 to arrest Mr. Ho The Luc, 34, a Vietnamese national, and Ms. Sawitree, 42, along with evidence including a one-month-old tiger cub, a plastic basket, and two mobile phones in the Wisit sub-district, Mueang district, Bueng Kan province.
Earlier, officials had been informed by the Wildlife Justice Commission (WJC) about Mr. Ho, a Vietnamese man involved in international wildlife trafficking in Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar. The suspect was allegedly hiding in Laos and had offered a tiger cub for sale in a secret group. Authorities planned a sting operation to buy a tiger cub and arranged the handover in Bueng Kan province.
The officers checked the area and at the specified time found Mr. Ho and Ms. Sawitree handing over a one-month-old female tiger to an undercover officer. They then revealed their identities and arrested the suspects. During the investigation, Mr. Ho confessed to booking the sale of the tiger cub, claiming it had been purchased from a breeding farm in Vietnam.
Ms. Sawitree denied any involvement in wildlife trafficking and stated that she did not know that the crate she was carrying contained a tiger cub. She claimed the crate belonged to an acquaintance named Ton from Laos, who had asked her to deliver it to a customer.
The authorities found that although the two people did not know each other, they both stood to benefit from the sale price of 300,000 baht or 8,200 USD. They were handed over to NED investigators who charged them with “joint possession of protected wildlife without authorization”
The tiger is a protected species under the Wildlife Preservation and Protection Act of 2019 and is also on the CITES Controlled Species List, Appendix I, No. 26. Trade in tigers is strictly prohibited due to their endangered status. Offenders face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, a fine of up to 1 million baht, or both.
