A hundred officers from Hat Noppharat Thara–Mu Ko Phi Phi National Park, police, military and Office of Forestry demolished houses and shops located next to the national park booth. The team expect the full demolition to take 3 days.
“It started in 2014 when the officers discovered the land encroachment. The man who claims to own the land, Aran Rothakan, has been charged for encroachment on national park land and was sentenced to 6 months in jail and 6,000 Baht fine.
As he confessed his punishment was reduced to 3 months and a 3,000 Baht fine. Because he has never had any criminal record and the encroachment is only 0-0-50 rai, he received a suspension of sentence for two years and has been ordered to move out,” said Chief of National Park Unit of Protected Areas Regional Office 5, Opat Nuanmangso.
“Since them, the national park officers attached an eviction notice as a part of the demolition process according to the section 22. The estimated national loss for this encroachment is 800,000 Baht.
“There are still many pieces of encroached land on Phi Phi Island and many of them are under investigation on the Nor Sor 3 land paper or prosecution process. Phi Phi Island land is a valuable resource to Thailand and attracts a lot of encroachers.”
- Kritsada Mueanhawong
The issue of illegal/fraudulent land aquisition around Phuket & surrounding area’s seems to be hotting up again. From a laymans perspective on the surface it seems, for once, corruption is not ruling the scales of justice & Thai law? A pleasant change I must say. Who’s/where’s next? My monies on a certain Golfing establishment & a somewhat controversial Boating Marina in Phuket itself. The next week should be fruitful if the rumour mill is accurate?
The Governor or somebody from his office should go and check Chalong Bay as even obnoxious Australians build on the beach there and get away with it. Also, all of the buildings on the beach front road there have encroached about 1.5 – 2m of the road there so that there is no parking on the side of the road where the bars and restaurants are. I remember the days before that was done and you can see the signs of it just by looking at the old electricity pylons going though the roofs of the buildings. Now, due to those spaces no longer being there, the vehicles still park there; but now they make the road a single lane what with all the trucks full of gasoline and gasoline tanker parked on the other side next to the sidewalk. It takes about an hour to drive that 500 metres from the lighthouse to Chalong Circle if you go in the afternoon and that is the Ambulance Route from Chalong Rescue Station and i assume a Tsunami Evacuation route too.