The Royal Forestry Department (RFD) on Monday handed two poor villagers a 2.5-million-baht invoice, plus 7.5% interest, for engaging in illegal logging and damaging public forest resources.
However, it also gave the pair a means of negotiating their way out of trouble -- by ratting on the masterminds behind the poaching they stand accused of.
Udom Sirisorn, 58 and his wife Daeng, 56, were arrested in January 2010 in Padong Ranang National Reserved Forest in Kalasin's Yang Ta Lad district.
They were the only people arrested among a group of poachers as the others were quick enough to evade capture.
Local media have dubbed them "the mushroom couple" because they said after being apprehended that they had originally been charged with being in possession of mushrooms.
The couple told the court they had made a mistake but refused to reveal the names of those who had orchestrated the poaching.
Forestry chief, Attaporn Charoenchansa, said the law stipulates the couple must be billed for damaging natural resources in Thailand's forests. But he is open to negotiation, he said.
"If they are poor and can cooperate with us, the [fine] will be lowered," he said. "But we need them to help us arrest the mastermind."
The fine derives from the losses incurred on 73 rai of forest land as a result of their poaching activities, the RFD said.
Around 700 teak and other precious trees aged around 20 years were cut down. Authorities confiscated 1,148 logs of wood in the forest, which was calculated in 2010 of having a value of 552,160 baht.
Responding to criticism that the bill was exorbitant, Mr Attaporn said it was calculated based on the value of the forest at the present time.
The department included the cost of the ecological loss due to deforestation.
In 2011 the Criminal Court handed each of them 15-year jail terms but the Supreme Court's environmental division commuted the terms to five years in February 2017.
The couple are currently incarcerated in prisons in Kalasin province.
They said they will formally request a royal pardon absolving them of their crimes.
