Car smuggling suspect arrested in Thai Northeast

BANGKOK, August 17 (TNA) - Thai police have arrested a suspected car smuggler who allegedly stole a car in Thailand's northeastern Nakhon Ratchasima province and delivered the stolen sedan to neighoburing Laos. Tharit Pengdit, Director General of the Department of Special Investigation (DSI), announced at a press conference in Bangkok on Saturday the arrest of the suspect, identified as Thong-chai Katasila, one of two car smuggling suspects who allegedly stole a black Toyota Fortuner car in a shopping mall in Nakhon Ratchasima on August 29, 2012. Tharit said the Thai police apprehended the suspect at a house of his relative in Nakhon Ratchasima after tracing him for nearly a year. The suspect then confessed that he received an order list, mostly involved Toyota Fortuner and Vigo cars, from Laos, twice a month and he received 5,000 baht per a stolen car. To steal a car, the suspect used an electronic device to prevent the car’s doors from locking when an owner parked the car and used a passkey to drive the car away. Stolen cars were delivered to Laos via rafts to avoid police checkpoints. The DSI chief warned people to be extra careful when using a remote to lock their cars and to always check their cars' doors after locking, as thieves can use such the device in a radius of 10 metre from a targeted car. (TNA)