Land probe: nine premises raided

PHUKET: Armed with warrants, officers from the Crime Suppression Division in Bangkok and police from Phuket made early-morning raids on nine premises in Phuket this morning. Pol Col Paween Pongsirin, Superintendent of Phuket Town Police Station, told the Gazette that the premises searched belonged to people suspected of being involved with fugitive land official Thawatchai Anukul in falsifying land documents. “The places we searched included homes and offices. Five were in Phuket Town, three in Kamala and one in Thalang,” Col Paween said. “We found land documents in some of these places, which we have taken away for scrutiny. All the places we searched belong to people we believe were involved with Thawatchai. We also have to question or investigate these people. Some of them are cooperating with the police; some are not.” Col Paween urged anyone receiving a summons to come and meet with officers. “Being summonsed doesn’t mean that you have done something wrong – it may be because of something you did unintentionally, or because of something someone else did or even because an official did something to involve you in his problems.” He also announced that on Wednesday a court in Surat Thani found Thawatchai guilty in absentia of dishonesty in his duty in 1996, and sentenced him to 12 years in jail. Thawatchai continues to elude capture, and Col Paween issued a plea for the public to help find him. “We have no idea where Thawatchai is now, so I would like to ask anyone who has any information to please let the police know,” he added.