Even without Sia Jo, it is business as usual in the Deep South
The "big fish" in the oil smuggling racket in the Deep South,
Mr Sahachai Jiensermsin, alias Sia Jo, has been on the run and his underground business is crumbling following the arrest of several police officers who were once on his payroll, including the former commissioner of Central Investigation Bureau, Pol Lt-Gen Pongpat Chayapan.
Unsurprisingly, it is business as usual for the "smaller fish" and for the corrupt officials in the restive region, according to the findings by the Isranews agency.
This is a proof that there are more than just one gang of police officers which have been on the take of the illegal oil smugglers in exchange for looking the other way as they smuggle oil from Malaysia into the region.
Speaking on the condition that her real identity was not disclosed, Jeh Nor, one of the oil smugglers, told Isranews reporters that she paid bribes to officials from various agencies so she could carry on with the unlawful business.
"They came on monthly basis or weekly basis. But there are some who came daily. But we gave them all because we don’t want to t
Jeh Nor admitted that the crackdown on Pol Lt-Gen Pongpat’s gang had affected oil smuggling business to some extent but the business continues although at a lower level and the officials have become more cautious."
The self-made oil smuggler said that she would be tipped off by some officials about when she should slow down or should step the illicit activities crackdown has eased and her pay to the unscrupulous officials would fluctuate in accordance with the amount of oil smuggled across the border on land.
"I used a modified pick-up truck to smuggle oil. It has an extra tank that can fill up to 1,000 litre of oil. When I managed to cross the border undetected, I would immediately deliver the oil to my customers," said Jeh Nor admitting that she inherited the business from her father who was already dead.
She said that she didn’t know that money from oil smuggling had been channelled to militant groups. But she quickly added that she would never get involved with the militants.
An oil trader who sells smuggled oil in bottles told Isranews that he still had to pay bribes to some officials as usual. "Usually, he (an official) will come to me with a small notebook and jote down the amount of money I paid to him. But, of late, he has become more cautious and will look across his shoulder to see if there are people around looking at him. But still I have to pay anyway because it is still better without a job and job is scarce here," he said.
The trader who did not want to be identified claimed that he made only 300-400 baht in profit a day.
An official who is involved in suppression of oil smuggling admitted that he has to become more stringent in cracking down on oil smuggling. However, he admitted that sometimes he had to pretend not seeing anything because some of the traders have no other choice and no other job to do.