The Royal Thai Navy intercepted an oil tanker hauling 350,000 liters of untaxed petroleum before it moored in Samut Sakon.
Coastal patrol boat 274 impounded the tanker as it entered the Tha Chin River estuary in the province adjacent to Bangkok Oct. 8.
The navy had been tipped off to the 36-meter vessel with no markings and flying no flag, which was run by smugglers delivering oil. The navy claimed the vessel was from a neighboring country, but it had three Thai crewmembers.
The captain, Thanakrit Chusri, and crewmen Noppadol Chusuwan, Montree Kaewnuan and a Burmese laborer were arrested after they were unable to present any documentation about the boat or the cargo.
Thanakrit claimed he was hired to transport the oil from a drilling rig in a neighboring country to a pier in Mahachai District in Samut Sakon.
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