A group of Vietnamese durian vendors were detained in Nonthaburi, Thailand on Sunday for tampering with scales and could each face up to seven years in prison.
Following complaints from residents, the local police launched an operation to apprehend seven Vietnamese vendors, along with the measuring scales they were using to dupe people. The arrest took place in the Bang Yai District of Nothanburi province.
According to local news reports, every scale had been tampered with and were missing official certification. The police also tried to calibrate one of the scales with a weight of 13.2 kilograms, but the device read 15 kilograms, which is illegal and misleading to customers.
“Durians [in Thailand] sell for 150 baht per kilogram. It doesn’t seem like a lot, but every day the damage will accumulate,” said Chatri Areewong, director of the Central Bureau of Weights and Measures Division under the Thai Department of Internal Trade.
The authorities speculated that the vendors earned at least THB 5,000 a day through this tactic.
After an initial interrogation all of the vendors admitted to their crimes due to the presence of clear evidence.
Police said that the accused could potentially end up in jail for seven years and face fines of up to THB 280,000 (around USD 8092.60).
According to VNExpress, 14 people were imprisoned in Thailand for using false scales last year, with seven of them being foreigners. The Vietnamese group of durian vendors is the first set of individuals to be arrested for this offense this year.
