Rayong police and Ban Khai politicians raided an illegal rubber plantation on Phanomsart Hill allegedly started on public land by an influential figure with connections to organized crime.
More than 20 Nongkrub police, Rayong Internal Security Operations Center officers, representatives of the Ban Khai Permanent Secretary’s Office, the director of the Chawae Industrial Corporative, and other politicians swooped down on the 10-rai plot on Nongbua May 1. Officials confiscated seven oil tanks used to power heavy saws and two generators.
Armed law enforcement officials raid a suspected illegal rubber plantation on the outskirts of Rayong.
Nongkrub police Lt. Col. Chaiyadit said authorities had received numerous complaints that criminal elements were clearing public land and planting rubber trees in the area. Officers visited the site April 18 and arrested two armed Cambodians using saws. They were charged with illegal entry into the kingdom and weapons possession.
Two days later, however, a “powerful individual” and henchmen brandishing AK-47 assault rifles and handguns allegedly threatened forestry officials and local residents to drop the matter.
Somchai Meesaeng, director of the Chavae Industrial Corporative, said his firm manages the public land for the government. The plantation was carved out of 10,000 rai of forest under its protection.
Encroachment on government land, however, carries laughably small penalties, Somchai said. Therefore, he enlisted ISOC and forestry officials, as evidence pointed to perpetrators illegally logging trees and intimidating residents with weapons.
An arrest warrant for the suspect ringleader is being contemplated.
