BANGKOK: Thailand’s Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) has arrested a Cambodian national and a Thai man on charges of jointly trading and possessing protected wildlife without permission, following an undercover operation that also involved U.S. wildlife officials.
Officers from the CIB’s Natural Resources and Environmental Crime Suppression Division (BKS.PTS), working with the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, detained Mr. Sarat, 35, a Cambodian national, and Mr. Naret, 39, a Thai national, at a PTT petrol station on Vibhavadi Rangsit Road in the Phaya Thai district in Bangkok.
They face charges under the Wildlife Conservation and Protection Act B.E. 2562 (2019) for jointly trading in and possessing reserved and protected wildlife without authorization. Sarat faces an additional charge of remaining in the kingdom after his immigration permission had expired, under the Immigration Act B.E. 2522 (1979).
Seized items included one rhinoceros hornbill, listed as protected wildlife No. 319, and one gibbon, listed as protected wildlife No. 121.
The arrests followed an expanded investigation by Division 1 of BKS.PTS into a network that had been buying wildlife in Thailand for sale overseas, including in Taiwan and India. Investigators determined that Sarat was selling animals to customers online. Officers posed as buyers seeking a hornbill and a gibbon and arranged a handover at the Vibhavadi PTT station.
At the appointed time, the two suspects arrived by motorcycle carrying cardboard boxes with holes cut in them and animal cages inside. Police identified themselves, made the arrests, and seized the animals. Both men were taken to Division 1 investigators. In the arrest and questioning stages, they confessed to the allegations, police said.
Participating officials from the Department of National Parks included Nawi Changpirom, director of natural resources cooperation coordination and leader of the “Hawk Forest” team, and Thanaruj Chaikaew, a forestry official assigned to the team, along with officers from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The CIB described the case as part of its work against transnational wildlife crime.
Photos: CIB
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