SONGKHLA: About 50 million baht worth of smuggled cigarettes have been seized from a house in Songkhla’s Hat Yai district.
The cigarettes were found in 100 boxes at a house in tambon Kho Hong searched by excise officials and soldiers on Tuesday evening.
No one was found at the property during the raid, which was directed by Excise Department director-general Krisada Chinavicharana and Lt Gen Piyawat Nakwanich, commander of the 4th Army Region.
The seized goods were taken to Hat Yai police station for further examination for clues to the people behind the contraband.
Phanupong Sriket, chief of Regional Excise Office 9’s prevention and suppression unit, said the contraband was brought into the country by a network of smugglers, which would distribute the cigarettes in Hat Yai district and other southern provinces.
The smuggled cigarettes sell for half the price of legal smokes, so smokers prefer them, he said.
Officials along the southern border say cigarettes are smuggled into Thailand by various methods, including boats and automobiles, particularly pickup trucks fitted with a high roof.
