Yasothon: Highway police arrested a Thai man and his Laotian wife while they were driving a closed-box pickup truck transporting seven motorcycles to a cross-border smuggling ring. The arrest occurred in front of a PTT gas station in Pa Tiu Subdistrict, Pa Tiu District, Yasothon Province. The suspects, Mr. Nattapong, 30, and his 19-year-old wife, Ms. Maek, confessed to being hired to transport the motorcycles by an acquaintance via the LINE application for 8,000 baht per trip, from Bangkok to Mukdahan Province.

According to Thai News Agency, further investigation revealed that the seized motorcycles were under hire-purchase agreements before being smuggled into the international criminal network. In the past week alone, Highway Patrol Division 6 seized 22 motorcycles, some of which were under hire-purchase agreements and others possibly stolen.