Ranong: The Ranong Port Security Control Center arrested a Myanmar fishing boat with six crew members and the captain while it was intruding into Thai waters in the waters off Koh Chang, Ranong Province, before taking the boat for inspection at the Ranong deep-sea port. Captain Traijak Satratham, head of the Ranong Port Security Control Center in Ranong Province, Region 3, revealed that on the evening of March 2, Vice Admiral Suwat Donsakul, commander of the 3rd Naval Area, received a report from the 451st Naval Area Command, Koh Chang, Ranong Province, that an unidentified fishing boat had been found intruding into Thai waters to the west of Koh Chang. He therefore ordered Lieutenant Commander Aphiphat Sirikong, commander of the T.993 ship, to bring a near-shore patrol boat stationed in the Ranong Sea to inspect and arrest the boat immediately.
According to Thai News Agency, at 9:00 p.m., the T.993 found the unidentified fishing boat south of Sinhai Island and immediately arrested and detained the fishing boat. There were 6 Myanmar crew members, but no fishing equipment was found. The bottom of the boat was clean and empty, with no fish tanks or ice like other fishing boats. It looked like the fishing boat that the 3rd Naval Area had previously caught in the Ranong Sea last month. It appeared to have committed some kind of illegal act before the navy arrested it.
Before towing the fishing boat and crew to the Ranong deep-sea port at 10:45 p.m., the Ranong Provincial Marine Office, along with navy officers, the Ranong Marine Center, and the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration Marine Center, jointly inspected, recorded the history of the six crew members, and questioned them about why they had encroached on Thai waters. Initially, it is believed that the boat was committing illegal acts because there were several suspicious points, possibly related to human trafficking. The Ranong Provincial Marine Center will bring in a multidisciplinary team from several agencies to inspect the boat in order to take legal action.