On 3 July 2000, a group of plunderers (16 offenders) came through the Vangtao border
checkpoint on the Lao-Thai border with guns and threatened the exchange unit of the
bank, border demarcation officials’ residents, border tax officials’ residents and private
stores for stealing property, arms and weapons, and also threatened to take hostage
officials and some local people; then they escaped to Thailand. A competent committee of
Lao PDR negotiated with a competent Thai committee and requested Thai authorities to
extradite the culprits to Lao PDR. Finally, the Thai counterpart sent the 16 culprits to Lao