The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has ordered legal action against a Khao Laem National Park worker who tried to smuggle a Chinese national on a vehicle decorated with official emblems in Kanchanaburi province.
DNP director-general Atthaphon Charoenchansa said Sathit (surname withheld), 30, was taken into custody on Monday after being found using a privately owned pickup truck fitted with official Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) emblems in an attempt to deceive officers at Sam Yaek Thong Pha Phum checkpoint.
Sathit has been accused of fitting his pickup truck with the decals to smuggle a Chinese national through the checkpoint in Kanchanaburi’s Thong Pha Phum district.
Officers stopped the vehicle for a search and found the driver, Sathit, wearing an official DNP uniform, along with a 27-year-old Chinese man, identified as Long Tao, who had no identification documents and could not speak Thai. Both were detained for questioning.
Sathit said he was instructed by a superior within his national park unit to pick up a group of Chinese nationals from a petrol station in Thong Pha Phum for transport.
Natural Resources and Environment Minister, Suchart Chomklin, described the case as “unacceptable” and ordered Mr Atthaphon to take immediate legal action.
Mr Atthaphon said Sathit was dismissed from his job at Khao Laem National Park on Tuesday following the incident and is permanently blacklisted from future employment within the DNP. An additional charge of forging and imitating official government logos was also filed against him.
Mr Suchart said any officials found complicit, regardless of their rank, would face severe disciplinary and criminal penalties, while vowing to protect the integrity of civil servants and uphold the law.
