Seven Cambodian phayung (Siamese rosewood) smugglers were captured after a gunfight with security officers in Thap Lan National Park on Wednesday. One of the smugglers was injured in the fight.
A combined team of rangers from the park’s management area 3 and soldiers from Suranaree Camp were patrolling the Dong Phayayen Forest Complex, a world heritage site, in tambon Ban Mai of Khon Buri district when they ran into about 20 men walking in the sanctuary.
The officers told them to stop for a search but some armed men in the group opened fired at them. A gun battle followed lasting about five minutes before the officers cleared the area and rounded up seven Cambodian men. The others managed to escape. One of them, identified only as Piak, was badly wounded after being shot in the stomach. He is being treated at Khon Buri hospital.
The team seized seven planks of processed phayung timber, two portable electric saws and two carts used to carry the timber.
The suspects said they were villagers from Cambodia's Battambang province and were hired by a Thai businessman to fell phayung trees in Thap Lan forest. The group sneaked into Thailand by car via the border in Sa Kaeo province and then walked into the forest complex in Prachin Buri.
They had been in the forest for 10 days before being caught by the Thai authorities.