BANGKOK: Thai authorities seized 5,000 boxes of various brands of cigarettes and 8,000 kilogram of cooking oil smuggled from Malaysia in two separate operations in Wang Prachan, here.
Satun Region 5 Task Force Army chief, Col Nipon Chanthana said the cigarettes were seized from a car passing through the inspection centre in Wang Prachan.
“The car ferrying 5,000 boxes of cigarettes was driven by a 27-year-old local man,” he said, adding that the success of the seizure was due to intelligence information.
He said the authorities were investigating to determine the mastermind in the smuggling attempt.
In the second incident late at night, he said soldiers raided a building without address in Kampung Wang Prachan and seized 8,000 kg of cooking oil smuggled from Malaysia.
According to Nipon, a one-kg packet of cooking oil smuggled from Malaysia was being sold at 35 baht (RM4.48), and a five-kg bottle of cooking oil sold at 200 baht (RM25.60) in southern Thailand.
