Seized Illegal Cigarettes Worth Over 4.5 Million Baht in Kanchanaburi

Kanchanaburi: Soldiers from the Surasee Task Force seized illegal cigarettes in a rubber plantation, valued at over 4.5 million baht. Kanchanaburi Governor Athisan Intra, along with Maj. Gen. Natthaphong Atsawinwong, Commander of the 9th Infantry Division and commander of the Surasee Task Force, revealed that security units in Kanchanaburi Province had received a tip from a source that untaxed cigarettes would be smuggled from the Kanchanaburi border into the inner region. According to Thai News Agency, the commander of the Surasee Task Force ordered Colonel Pansak Preawphanit, commander of the 29th Infantry Regiment and commander of the Lad Ya Task Force, Surasee Force, along with Colonel Piyanes Phattharasasawatwong, deputy commander of the Lad Ya Task Force, Surasee Force, and the 134th Border Patrol Police Company, Sangkhlaburi Police Station, and Sangkhlaburi District administrative officials to conduct patrols to prevent illegal activities from entering the inner region. Later, at 2:00 PM, officers pa trolling the Ban Rai Oi rubber plantation in Village No. 9, Nong Lu Subdistrict, Sangkhla Buri District, Kanchanaburi Province, noticed suspiciously illegal items lying in the plantation. A thorough inspection revealed 5,000 packs (500 cartons) of smuggled cigarettes packed in cardboard boxes wrapped in black garbage bags. Officers suspected the smugglers had placed them there, waiting for someone hired to smuggle the smuggled cigarettes into the inner area. However, the patrol officers discovered them beforehand. The value of the smuggled cigarettes, compared to the excise fines, was over 4.5 million baht. Officials then took all the seized items to the Kanchanaburi Excise Office, Sangkhlaburi Branch, for legal action and further investigation.