Customs officials and naval officers seized smuggled foreign cigarettes worth about 10 million baht near the Thai-Cambodian border in Pong Nam Ron district of Chanthaburi province on Sunday.
One suspect was arrested after officials seized 251,800 smuggled cigarettes at an undisclosed location. A second batch of 250,000 cigarettes was found abandoned in a forest near the border.
Customs officials said the two related seizures were the largest cigarette smuggling busts in Thailand’s eastern border region to date.
They estimated that import duties and other taxes on the two consignments would have totalled about 8 million baht, while the cigarettes themselves were worth approximately 2 million baht.
Authorities said they are continuing their investigation to identify the owners of the contraband cigarettes.
