DSI Joins Forces with 18 Agencies to Inspect Containers Suspected of Basel Convention Violations and Illegal E-Waste Smuggling

DSI Joins Forces with 18 Agencies to Inspect Containers Suspected of Basel Convention Violations and Illegal E-Waste Smuggling

On Monday, September 14, 2026, at 09:30 AM, Police Major Yutthana Praedam, Director-General of the Department of Special Investigation (DSI), assigned Police Major Natapol Ditsayatham, Director of the Bureau of Natural Resources and Environment Crime, under the supervision of Police Major Jatupol Bongkochmas, Deputy Director-General of the DSI, to conduct a joint integrated operation with relevant agencies. These agencies included the Customs Department, the Pollution Control Department, the Department of Industrial Works, Chonburi Province, the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) Chonburi, Laem Chabang Port, the National Anti-Corruption Commission, Chonburi Provincial Police, Laem Chabang Police Station, Ecological Alert and Recovery - Thailand (EARTH), the Basel Action Network (BAN), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC, Unwaste Project), Greenpeace Thailand, and Bloomberg News, totaling 18 agencies. Presided over by Mr. Suchart Chomklin, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, the joint team inspected shipping containers suspected of violating the Basel Convention through the illegal importation of electronic waste (e-waste) from abroad. The inspection took place at the Laem Chabang Port Customs Office and Hutchison Ports Thailand Terminal D1 in Thung Sukhla Subdistrict, Si Racha District, Chonburi Province.

The suspicious containers inspected were identified based on intelligence provided to the DSI by the BAN and the UNODC. Consequently, the DSI notified the Customs Department to seize an additional 50 containers. Of these, the Customs Department detected violations in 19 containers, found no import records into the Kingdom for 14 containers, and inspected a total of 9 containers during this operation; for 1 remaining container, no company representative came forward. Upon unsealing and inspecting the containers, the first three—imported from Poland, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand, respectively—were correctly declared with no contamination detected. However, the other six containers, imported from the United States, were declared as aluminum scrap and waste. Upon inspection, all six containers were found to be contaminated with electronic waste (e-waste).

          Previously, the DSI, in collaboration with relevant agencies, inspected suspicious containers and confirmed violations in 151 containers, the majority of which were imported from the United States. The DSI will accept this matter as a special case to prosecute transnational organized crime syndicates involved in illegal waste trafficking. The operation will include searches, arrests, and asset seizures, alongside mutual legal assistance in criminal matters (MLA) requests. Preliminary records identify a watchlist of 825 containers suspected of having been previously imported into Thailand, involving 7 exporting companies from the United States and 16 importing companies in Thailand.