Police on Friday arrested two Thais and 19 Myanmar nationals in connection with illegal logging in Pa Phu Nam Khem National Park in Prachuap Khiri Khan province.
The suspects confessed to the crime but claimed they weren’t aware they were on national park land, said Pol Lt Gen Jirabhop Bhuridej, the head of the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB).
Acting on a tip received on Thursday, the police Natural Resources and Environmental Crime Suppression Division, along with officials from the Royal Forest Department and local police, raided the forested area in Bang Saphan district.
Pol Lt Gen Jirabhop said five power saws, two backhoes, two trucks, four tractors and eight litres of petrol were among the items seized.
The workers claimed unnamed individuals had hired them to cut rubber trees. The villagers who provided authorities with the tip said the suspects had been working at the site since Thursday.
The suspects were charged with illegal logging and violating the National Forest Reserve Act of 1964.
They were later handed over to the Bang Saphan police for prosecution.
A police officer talks with a group of 21 suspects who were caught logging illegaly in Pa Phu Nam Khem National Park in Prachuap Khiri Khan on Friday. (Photo supplied/Wassayos Ngamkham)