Samui journalist threatened with violence over luxury villa report

A journalist from Channel 7 filed a complaint against the owner of some luxury villas in Koh Samui after the owner issued a violent threat against him for reporting a suspicious construction permit for the villas.

Officers from the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) Division 4 are investigating the construction permit for 53 luxury villas of the Samui Green Cottages project on Chaweng Noi Mountain, Koh Samui, an island in the southern province of Surat Thani.

The residential project is suspected of encroaching on forest land or prohibited areas. The project comprises 53 luxury villas but the owner submitted a construction model of only 40 villas to officials, with the remaining 13 villas not yet proposed.

Furthermore, the model of the villas differs from the finished construction, and the slope of each villa’s location, along with their height, also violates legal limits. Currently, six of the 53 villas have been completed but the project has been paused for further investigation.

The target customers of these villas are foreigners in Thailand. Each villa was expected to be offered at around 10 million baht each.

Channel 7 reported yesterday, July 17, that their Koh Samui-based journalist accompanied ISOC authorities to the villas to report on the case.

Violence threat

The journalist encountered a Thai man, who claimed to be the owner of the villa project, at the scene. The owner expressed dissatisfaction with the journalist’s work and even instructed his employees to take a picture of the journalist, threatening to harm him if they met again.

In the video recorded by the journalist, the project owner is heard threatening him.

“You cause me a lot of problems. Are you from Channel 7? I will sue you. I already prepared evidence of what you said about me in the headlines. You must have journalistic ethics. Stop causing trouble for the locals on Koh Samui. You will see what I can do when I meet you again.”

His female employee was heard asking for the journalist’s name but he refused to disclose it.

ISOC authorities intervened in the argument and asked the villa owner to allow the journalist to do his job and pointed out that the man from Channel 7 had his right to report on the case. The owner insisted he did not intend to harm the journalist but wanted his name to file a lawsuit against the right person.

The journalist later filed a complaint against the villa owner at Bor Phud Police Station, and officers promised to summon the owner for questioning.