Savings accused the Aranyaprathet Customs House in the Isaan province of Sa Kaeo of stealing durians price 1.eight million baht.
The story of the durian middleman caught fireplace on Thai social media on Sunday, June 25. According to several posts on Facebook, the middleman complained that the customs wrongly blamed him for illegally importing durians from Cambodia.
The intermediary insists that he had purchased approximately eight tons of durians from a neighborhood plantation in the northeastern province of Si Sakate. He defined that he hired a truck driver to transfer the durian from the Si Sakate to the central province of Chantaburi for export.
However, customs officers informed the driver that the durians were illegally imported and should be seized.
The middleman then visited the Aranyaprathet Customs House to retrieve the durian but found that his merchandise had been all bought by the authorities. He claimed that some officers confirmed him a video that all the durians were resold to other government departments in the province.
Many Thai citizens criticised the authorities for their wrongdoings and demanded a proof from Thai Customs.
The Director of the Customs Department, Phachara Anantasin, yesterday insisted that the authorities had done the proper thing based on the regulation. He explained that officers acquired a tip-off that a six-wheel truck would travel to a border between Thailand and Cambodia in Sa Kaeo province on June 23 to illegally buy durians and switch them to Chantaburi.
At 9.45am on the day, the customs authorities identified a truck matching the given description and promptly signalled the driver to pull over. The truck driver admitted that Cambodian nationals had entrusted him with the durians, leading to the instant confiscation of the entire consignment.
Phachara revealed that the middleman later visited the Aranyaprathet Customs House and admitted to being unaware that the Cambodian durian vendor had not obtained the required permissions from the authorities.
Both the truck driver and the middleman face authorized punishment however particulars of the charges were not disclosed.
Nevertheless, other durian middlemen in Chanthaburi did not consider the authorities’ claims. A member of the Sa Kaeo Public Network, Amahrin Yeeheng, posted on Facebook at present daring the Customs Department Director to visit the customs house before defending his staff. Amahrin said…
“Dear Customs Department Director, please don’t only sit at the workplace and maintain a press conference. Come and examine the matter on-site. If the claims made during the press convention turned out to be unfaithful, it might indicate that you are a liar, wouldn’t it?”
The story seems set to run for a little while yet..