Pol Colonel Panthana Nutchanart, deputy CSD commander, said yesterday that Thanongsak Raksawong, executive committee member of Siam Tuna Fisheries, and Suwit Thepprasit, executive committee member of Shelt Service (Thailand), had been arrested over allegations of fishing and transporting cold-storage cargo in foreign waters without permission from the Command Centre for Combating Illegal Fishing (CCCIF).

The penalty for their crime is at least a year in prison and/or a fine of no more than Bt100,000.

Panthana said both suspects had confessed, although the third suspect, Trirong Nim-anusornsuk, owner of Three Wonderful Ltd, had not surrendered yet. Thanongsak was arrested on Sunday and Suwit was captured yesterday.

“The Fisheries Department learnt that their six fishing vessels had failed to inform the port in-port out centre before going out fishing, so the department alerted CSD to proceed with the case and capture the offenders,” he said.

According to the report, all six vessels are bigger than 60 tonnes gross and all of them had gone fishing in the southwest of the Indian Ocean, near Madagascar, Mauritius and the Seychelles.

Suwit had told police he would surrender tomorrow because he had taken leave to care for his wife.

Deputy police chief Lt-General Sriwara Ransibrahmanakul said more illegal fishing cases would be investigated.

“Investigators will also have to see if there were any trafficked people on board,” Sriwara said.

At the press conference, the two suspects informed police that their fishing vessels were on their way back to Thailand and that it would take them at least 20 days to return.

Separately, Captain Benjamaporn Wongnakornsawang, assistant secretary on public relations for CCCIF, said the foundation took illegal fishing on international waters very seriously because it was important to ensure legal practices are used that meet international standards.