DSI joined forces with related agencies to search shops selling tax-evading cigarettes in Pattani Province

DSI joined forces with related agencies to search shops selling tax-evading cigarettes in Pattani Province

       Mr. Triyarith Temahivong (the Director-General of the DSI) delivered his policies on performing duties to prevent and suppress the gangs of selling tax evading cigarettes as they caused adverse impacts on the country’s economic system making huge losses of income taxes collected annually by the State. Despite continuity of various searches and arrests of ships and trucks smuggling contraband by the Southern Border Provinces Operation Center, information about activities of the said gangs always appears. The Center, therefore, formed its action plan against significant shops in the said area for cutting the circle of seller networks at all levels along the coasts of the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea.

       The DSI recently received a report that the gang selling tax evading cigarettes along the coast of the Gulf of Thailand would order and import foreign cigarettes for selling in the country by tax evasion and distributing them to shops selling tax evading cigarettes in Pattani Province. After investigation with precision by the investigation team, on Thursday, October 14, 2021, at 1.00 p.m. Mr. Triyarith Temahivong (the Director-General of the DSI), his Deputy Police Major Yuthana Praedam, Mr. Mahesak Punsanga (the Director of Regional Operation Bureau), Mr. Phichet Thongsrinoon (Special Case Expert) assigned Mr. Chayapol Saitawee (the Head of Southern Border Provinces Operation Center) with his officials to conduct investigations with officers from related agencies, namely, the Excise Department Region 9, the Pattani Area Excise Office, and the Investigation Division of Pattani Provincial Police in the case of the network of offenders along the border and coast, the investigation no. 118/2564. The DSI by its Center coordinated with the related agencies to request 4 search warrants from the Pattani Provincial Court and exercised the authorization of the competent authority pursuant to the Excise Act B.E. 2560 (2017) to join forces with related agencies (namely, the Pattani Area Excise Office, the Excise Department Region 9, the Division of Other Security Threats of the Bureau of Operations, the Office of Intelligence, Anterior Region 4 of the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) in the ISOC Pattani Province, the Police Forensic Science Southern Center,  the Investigation Division of Pattani Provincial Police, and the Thai Maritime Enforcement Command Center) to search 4 shops selling tax evading cigarettes. The search revealed the facts as follows.

1. For the shop no. 27/55 located in Moo 5, Ru Samilae Subdistrict, Mueang District, Pattani Province, the exhibits of 133 packs of tax evading cigarettes were found with 1 alleged offender.
2. For the shop no. 77/1 located on Chabang Tiko Road, Sabarang Subdistrict, Mueang District, Pattani Province, the exhibits of 1,694 packs of tax evading cigarettes were found with 1 alleged offender.
3. For the shop no. 158/90 located on Na Kluea Road, Bana Subdistrict, Mueang District, Pattani Province, the exhibits of 2,164 packs of tax evading cigarettes were found with 1 alleged offender.
4. For the shop named KS STORE with its address no. 113, Samakkhi Sai Kor Road, Bana Subdistrict, Mueang District, Pattani Province, the exhibits of 22,233 packs of tax evading cigarettes were found with 1 alleged offender.

       From the result of search in 4 target places, it was found 4 alleged offenders in 4 targets. The foreign tax unpaid cigarettes seized as the exhibits comprised 100 crates of John Black, MILANO, DENVER, Marlboro, Manchester, Gold Mount, ORIS, GAMA, SENATOR, PLATINUM, FORT, AMAS, VESS, SPA, UP brand names. The total of tax evading cigarettes found in the 4 shops was 26,224 packs in total with the fine about 19 million baht calculated according to the law. Initially, the DSI submitted the exhibits to the inquiry officials of the Pattani Provincial Police Station for prosecution. The Southern Border Provinces Operation Center will further cooperate with the related agencies to continuously press, intercept, hinder, and cut the circle of networks of contraband trade in the area.

       The said case might be a criminal offence in accordance with laws provided in the Annex Attached to Clause 11 and Clause 12 of the Notification of the Board of Special Case (No.7) B.E.2562 (2019) On Determination of the Nature of Crime Regarded as the Special Case Under Section 21 Paragraph One (1) of the Special Case Investigation Act, B.E.2547 (2004) that is a predicate offence of the Anti-Money Laundering Act. The investigation team will collect the facts and evidence, and propose them to the Director-General of the DSI to have an order for inquiry into the said case as a special case.

Dated October 15, 2021