TRAT - A policeman driving a police pickup truck crashed into a lamppost, exposing its cargo of contraband cigarettes, in Muang district on Sunday evening.
The accident happened in the rain on the Sukhumvit Highway in tambon Laem Klat, Muang district, about 6.30pm.
Police from Tha Luean dispatched to the scene found a wrecked pickup truck belonging to Provincial Police Region 2.
The driver, Pol Sgt Maj Ekapote Niyom, 37, was also waiting there. He had numerous grazes and was suffering back and chest pain, and was taken to Trat Hospital for treatment.
The truck had hit and toppled a street lamppost. On the rear tray was a big plastic box that police opened and found at least 300 cartons of smuggled cigarettes.
There were stickers on the truck showing it was the property of Provincial Police Region 2, which supervises eastern provinces.
Pol Col Montree Jina, chief of Tha Luean police, said the injured man was a real policeman who had earlier worked in Trat and the crashed truck was a real police vehicle.
He also confirmed that the cigarettes were smuggled.
Police seize the smuggled cigarettes after the accident. (Photo: Jakkrit Waewkhlaihong)
