Thai police to strictly crack down illegal oil

SATUN, THAILAND, October 5 (TNA) - Thai police will, from now on, intensify their suppression of illegal oil, emphasizing on large smuggling or trading gangs, with decisive legal punishment. Chief of Thailand's Provincial Police Region 9, tasked to take care of the country's southern region, declared the policy on Friday, reasoning that illegal oil trading is detrimental to the national economy. The move was prompted by a case in which a huge lot of over 47,000 litres of illegal oil, earlier seized by officers of Thailand's Department of Special Investigation (DSI) in the southern Satun province's Khuan Don district, has remained missing. The provincial police chief told reporters on Friday that he has set up a committee to probe into the cause of the incident and to search for the missing oil, vowing that legal action will be definitely taken against any police officer found to have been corrupt related to the case or to have failed to fully observed their duties. (TNA)