TAK — Twenty people were arrested in cities across the country on Wednesday for running a major car trafficking operation.
The arrests were made after police raided 21 locations in a nationwide sweep of two car trafficking rings that smuggled vehicles into Myanmar. Among the 20 suspects were Ratanaporn Poophakampanart, who police said was a ringleader. She was apprehended at her house in the border town of Mae Sot, where police found four pickup trucks.
Regional Crime Suppression Division commander Ekkasit Panseetha said evidence showed Ratanaporn paid several people to make down payments on cars from dealers. Once the vehicles were delivered, they would be driven across the border to Myanmar, after which they were sold and the full payment was never made back to the dealers.
“This has done considerable damage to dealers and car owners,” Pol. Col. Ekkasit said. “We investigated and found that it was an organized crime.”
Four cars, 14 motorcycles, along with firearms, license plates, and a 1.5 million baht cash were confiscated during Wednesday’s operation.
The suspects were charged with colluding in a fraud, police said.
