Trat: A Thai and a Cambodian were nabbed yesterday while attempting to smuggle 10 stolen motorcycles out to Koh Kong province in the neighbouring country.
The pair, with the motorbikes on their boat, were spotted in the early hours by soldiers and navy-attached rangers hidden in fishing vessels off the Trat coast.
Cdr Surachai Paoraksa, commander of the 182nd marine corps unit's task force, attributed the arrest to information gained from an informant which enabled the officers to intercept this latest attempt after up to 150 stolen Thai-registered motorcycles were believed to have recently been shipped to Cambodia.
The suspects -- Wiwat Pharaphan and his Cambodian accomplice identified only as Thun -- admitted they were paid 6,000 baht for each crossing and had done so on five previous occasions.
"They worked for a businessman in Koh Kong and a Thai mastermind in Klong Yai [a district in Trat]," Cdr Surachai said, citing their confession.
According to soldiers, the two suspects loaded the motorbikes onto what the officers said was a "long-tailed boat" before speeding them off Thap Chalothon in Klong Yai district.
Mr Wiwat said he and the Cambodian national were only hired to smuggle the motorcycles. He told officers he had no idea who owned them.
Earlier in July, Crime Suppression Division police arrested a gangster identified as Athippati Tulathong who allegedly stole motorcycles to sell in Myanmar.
Investigators believe a Myanmar man bought the motorcycles, which were dismantled before being sent across the border as spare parts.
