Two top cops among land encroachment suspects

– Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community

PHUKET: TWO high-level police officers are among suspects involved in alleged land encroachment in Nakhon Ratchasima’s Pak Chong district, a senior Army officer said yesterday.

Army Region 2 chief of staff Colonel Sommai Budsaba said two police major-generals allegedly owned a 49-rai plot and a 17-rai plot, out of a total of 330-rai of military land in Khao Nong Chuam area that had been encroached on. He said title deeds had been illegitimately issued for the plots.

“The police officers allegedly built eight houses on the two plots – seven of which were complete while one remains under construction,” Sommai told The Nation.

An Army working team was trying to retrieve the Khao Nong Chuam land from influential individuals, Sommai said. “If the probes find grounds for wrongdoing, officials would submit the cases and let the justice process run its course.”

The working team has told the Special Warfare School at Lop Buri, as the legitimate land title-deed owner, to proceed with the cancellation of illegitimate title deeds, he said. The working team would forward the cases to the Anti-Money Laundering Office for further investigation.

Sommai’s team was inspecting 10,000 rai in Phu Rua forest of Loei province yesterday. He said that the team would, on September 10, investigate 1,600 rai on the banks of the Mun River in Ubon Ratchathani province. They would also probe 1,000 rai in Nam Some-Nayung forest in Ban Phue district of Udon Thani province. “We aim to probe all alleged land encroachment cases in the Northeast in the near future,” he said, adding the mission was to free the region from influential groups.

— Phuket Gazette Editors