Prosecutors fly to investigate illegal oil in exclusive economic waters

The prosecutor and the police suppress economic crimes, flew to verify the location of the illegal oil tanker, and expedited the examination of evidence to prosecute the attempted sale of illegal oil in the country. Mr. Watcharin Phanurat, Deputy Attorney General of the Investigation Office, Office of the Attorney General, along with Pol. Col. Chatchawan Chuchaijaroen, Director of Division 2, Economic Crime Suppression Division and investigators traveled to the Don Mueang Police Aviation Division to inspect the location where 5 illegal oil tankers were seized in the Exclusive Economic Waters or International Waters. Mr. Watcharin revealed that the reason for having to travel to inspect the arrest point today was to find out whether it matched the information in the police report or not, and whether it is possible to press charges under the Customs and Excise Act for attempting to smuggle illegal oil into Thailand or not, to prevent legal arguments from the accused regarding the arrest point, which they cla imed the police could not prosecute. However, if the arrest point was truly in international waters, the law can find evidence from other areas, such as evidence from the Thai side that there was an attempt to coordinate or sell illegal oil in Thailand, which is something that the police investigators and prosecutors must continue to prove the facts of whether the accused attempted to smuggle illegal oil into Thailand to sell or not. As for the behavior that was found that 1 out of 5 ships was a ship with Thai nationality and it was found that all 5 ships had flown the Thai flag in international waters, it is possible to take legal action, but it is only a charge of committing an offense under the Navigation Act, which is not the main charge. As for whether Mr. J. is behind the illegal oil trade this time, according to the arrest records of the 5 illegal oil tankers, his name has not yet been found. However, in the case of the theft of the evidence tanker along with the oil from the Sattahip Marine Police v essel, Mr. J.'s name appears. The investigators in the illegal oil tanker case will have to combine the evidence from the Crime Suppression Division's theft records into one case and will have to clearly investigate whether Mr. J. is behind the illegal oil trade this time or not. Even though it appears that the vessel that was arrested this time has been prosecuted for illegal oil trade in the past, legally, old cases cannot be used as evidence in the current case. Source: Thai News Agency