It’s not necessary for Lao buyers to purchase vehicles which were stolen overseas, officials have said, because many people are buying their cars on finance with a minimum deposit and instalment payments.
However, a newspaper in Malaysia reported recently that stolen vehicles from Malaysia are being smuggled into Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia.
A Lao police official told Vientiane Times on Friday that he has not really heard about vehicles stolen in Malaysia being offered for sale in Laos.
“I sometimes hear that stolen vehicles like to go to third countries but I don’t think it is Laos,” he said.
In Laos, with a deposit of about five or ten million kip people can buy their new cars on finance and pay them off in installments. So, the car buyers’ market doesn’t really require people to resort to purchasing stolen vehicles.
They may be available if someone wants to buy a new or secondhand vehicle from neighbouring countries, but the illegal vehicles are likely to be apprehended by the relevant police officials.
Based on Malaysia’s The Star , vehicle theft syndicates in Malaysia are not limiting their so-called ‘business’ just to the closest neighbouring country, Thailand, but are believed to have expanded even to Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia.
If the cars were not sold in Thailand, there is also the possibility for the unloaded stolen vehicles to be smuggled into its neighbouring countries by land.
Thailand shares a land border with three Indochina countries, namely Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia, possibly as the final destinations for the stolen vehicles.
Early this month, Thai police handed over 22 stolen Malaysian vehicles worth RM2.2 million found in that country to the Malaysian police.
Stolen four-wheel drive vehicles were very popular on the Myanmar black market while luxury cars and MPVs were famous among Cambodia’s black market customers.
Nowadays the traffic congestion is causing frustration and boredom among motorists in Laos, especially the current situation on the streets of the capital Vientiane, which can only be described as traffic chaos but residents still seem to need to buy more and more cars in order to get themselves to their offices and other businesses in the capital.
In the times of peak traffic chaos many motorists can be seen to be losing their temper with the situation. Some complain and some are angry but no one is talking about alternative means of transport.
Whilst there is congestion on the roads in the capital the situation in Vientiane is still not too bad compared to some countries in ASEAN.
Source: Vientiane Times
