THAILAND’S enforcement agencies today foiled an attempt to smuggle 20,000 packets of contraband cigarettes worth 600,000 baht (RM77,609) bound for Malaysia, at Sungai Golok, Narathiwat.

Head of Narathiwat Area Excise Office, Sungai Golok Branch, Jiranant Jaihao said acting on a tip-off, the enforcement team, comprising excise officers, police and army found the contraband cigarettes in two vehicles near a river at the Thailand-Malaysia border in Sungai Golok.

“Further checks led to the recovery of 20,000 packets of contraband cigarettes hidden at the back of the vehicles.

“When the enforcement officers arrived at the scene, five men fled into the jungle,” he said at a press conference in Narathiwat today.

He added that the contraband cigarettes, believed to have been smuggled into the border town of Tak Bai by Vietnamese fishermen, was bound for Rantau Panjang, Kelantan.

“The enforcement agencies are stepping up efforts to hunt down the suspects,” he said. – Bernama, February 15, 2022.