The raid was carried out yesterday morning (July 12) at a rented room on Chao Fa West Rd in Moo 3, Wichit, following an investigation into the illegal storage and sale of untaxed foreign cigarettes.
Police said officers had conducted surveillance outside the property on Saturday night. They became suspicious after seeing a man and a woman leave the premises and stopped them for questioning.
A search of the woman’s backpack uncovered 120 packs of smuggled foreign cigarettes, containing 2,400 cigarettes.
According to police, the pair then admitted that more cigarettes were being stored at the property and agreed to a search.
Officers found a further 10,680 packs, or 213,600 cigarettes, packed in cardboard boxes inside the room.
In total, police seized 10,800 packs containing 216,000 cigarettes, with an estimated value of more than B400,000.
The two suspects were charged with jointly possessing and selling goods on which excise tax had not been paid under the Excise Tax Act, and jointly concealing, selling or possessing goods that had not undergone customs clearance under the Customs Act.
Police said one of the suspects admitted during questioning that the cigarettes belonged to him.
Both suspects and the seized cigarettes were handed over to investigators at Wichit Police Station for legal proceedings.