DSI joins forces with government and international agencies to inspect foreign hazardous waste containers at Laem Chabang, accelerating the crackdown on electronic and plastic waste smuggling networks

On Tuesday March 10, 2026, the Department of Special Investigation (DSI), together with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Customs Department, the Pollution Control Department, the Ecological Alert and Recovery - Thailand (EARTH) Foundation, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and the Basel Action Network (BAN), jointly inspected cargo containers of electronic waste, municipal solid waste, and plastic scrap from foreign origin countries. Illegally smuggled into the Kingdom, these involved hazardous substances, prohibited good, or products forbidden from being imported into or transited through the Kingdom. Mr. Suchart Chomklin, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, also joined the inspection visit at the Laem Chabang Port Customs Office.

The said operation is part of the interception of transnational hazardous waste smuggling syndicates. The Department of Special Investigation received intelligence from the EARTH Foundation, UNODC, and BAN under an illegal waste trade surveillance operation, which detected the movement of suspicious cargo containers from the United States of America. Consequently, an investigation was conducted, and coordination was made with the Customs Department to impound a total of 714 suspicious containers from April 2025 to March 2026. Based on surveillance data from the Laem Chabang Port Customs Office, it was found that some of the cargo containers exhibited irregularities and fell under the category of illegal smuggling of electronic and plastic waste. The illegal smuggling of hazardous substances, prohibited goods, or products forbidden from being imported into or transited through the Kingdom constitutes an offense under the Hazardous Substance Act, B.E. 2535 (1992), the Anti-Money Laundering Act, B.E. 2542 (1999), the Customs Act, B.E. 2560 (2017), the Export and Import of Goods Act, B.E. 2522 (1979), the Enhancement and Conservation of National Environmental Quality Act, the Criminal Code, and the Special Case Investigation Act, B.E. 2547 (2004) and its amendments.

As a law enforcement agency, the Department of Special Investigation plays a crucial role in investigating transnational hazardous waste smuggling syndicates, inspecting false customs declarations, expanding the investigation to the networks behind these activities both domestically and internationally, and pushing for the repatriation of the hazardous waste to its country of origin in accordance with the principles of the Basel Convention, along with strictly prosecuting the offenders according to the law. The goal of this operation is to protect the environment and public health, preventing Thailand from becoming a dumping ground for foreign hazardous waste, while seriously elevating law enforcement against environmental crime networks.