Barkar Nash (Page 1,318)

The Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) sent three aircraft to Saudi Arabia last night on a mission to repatriate Thai people. They are expected to arrive at Don Mueang Airport around 8pm tomorrow.

According to air force spokesman AVM Prapas Sornchaidee, three aircraft — two C-130s and an Airbus A340-500 — departed from the air force’s Royal 6 airport next to Don Mueang.

The planes were headed to King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) designated as a gathering place for Thai nationals wishing to return to Thailand.

The RTAF planned to use the Airbus to pick up Thai people evacuated from Sudan on Monday, while the C-130s were due to remain for those unable to join the first round of repatriation, AVM Prapas said, adding they will also fly to Sudan if the opportunity arises.

Deputy government spokeswoman Rachada Dhnadirek said 212 Thai nationals and three foreign spouses had expressed their desire to return to Thailand as of Monday.

The MFA, the Royal Thai Embassy in Cairo, and the Honorary Consulate-General in Sudan assisted in providing buses in Khartoum Monday that took them to a Sudanese port on the Red Sea yesterday.

The group will board a ship provided by the Saudi Arabian government for a trip to Saudi Arabia that was expected to take around 15 hours. They were then to board buses to Jeddah and fly to Thailand. The flight time is about eight hours. They will arrive at Don Mueang around 8pm tomorrow, said Ms Rachada.

Foreign Affairs Minister Don Pramudwinai said five Thai nationals living in a part of Sudan where there is no fighting have also registered to return. The MFA will send a vehicle to collect this group, he added.

Regarding any problems related to international advance voting for the May 14 general election for those Thais who plan to stay in Sudan, Ms Rachada said the election law permits them to postpone voting twice.

If the fighting has not ended by the date of the second postponement, they will be counted as eligible voters who cannot exercise their right to vote due to unexpected events, she said.

Fierce clashes erupted in Sudan on April 15 between forces allied with two generals involved in a 2021 coup.

The World Health Organization said more than 420 people have been killed and over 3,700 wounded.

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A Senate committee on information technology, communication and telecommunications on Tuesday met to discuss the state telecom regulator’s plan to revise regulations governing the use of foreign-owned satellites to provide domestic telecoms services.

Anantaporn Kanchanarat, chair of the Senate committee, said the discussion was meant to gather recommendations and concerns over the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission’s (NBTC) plan to review the regulations.

Raised during the discussion were the minimum qualifications for foreign satellite operators, licence fees, service disruptions and responsibilities, said Gen Anantaporn.

While the meeting’s participants agreed that allowing the use of foreign satellite transponders to provide domestic services would give customers more options, it could put Thai satellite service providers at a disadvantage, he said.

While satellite service operators Thaicom and National Telecom (NT) have invested millions of baht to obtain their licences, foreign satellite providers who want to provide domestic services in Thailand only need to pay 2 million baht for a five-year licence, he said.

According to Gen Anantaporn, the committee also debated a proposal seeking to allow the use of foreign satellite services on Thai and foreign planes, sea-faring vessels and high-speed rail systems.

The NBTC is currently gathering the public’s input on its planned changes to the regulations, which have been in use for three years.

The findings will be submitted to the NBTC’s board for consideration with the revised regulation expected to be announced in October.

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The Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) sent three aircraft to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday night to repatriate Thai people evacuated from conflict-torn Sudan. They are expected to arrive at Don Mueang Airport around 8pm tomorrow.

The two C-130s and an Airbus A340-500 departed from the air force’s Royal 6 airport next to Don Mueang, said air force spokesman AVM Prapas Sornchaidee.

The planes are headed to King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had designated as the gathering place for Thai nationals wishing to return home.

The Airbus will pick up Thai people evacuated from Sudan on Monday, while the C-130s would remain on standby for those unable to join the first round of repatriation, AVM Prapas said, adding that they could also fly to Sudan if the opportunity arises.

Deputy government spokeswoman Rachada Dhnadirek said 212 Thai nationals and three foreign spouses had expressed their desire to return to Thailand as of Monday.

The foreign ministry, the Royal Thai Embassy in Cairo, and the honorary consul in Sudan assisted in providing buses in Khartoum on Monday that took them to Port Sudan on the Red Sea, the staging point for efforts to help nationals of several countries get to Saudi Arabia.

From Port Sudan the Thais were to board a ship provided by the Saudi Arabian government for a trip expected to take around 15 hours. They would then board buses to Jeddah and fly to Thailand. The flight time is about eight hours. They will arrive at Don Mueang around 8pm Wednesday, said Ms Rachada.

Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai said five Thai nationals living in a part of Sudan where there is no fighting had also registered to return. The ministry will send a vehicle to collect this group, he added.

Fierce clashes erupted in Sudan on April 15 between forces allied with two generals involved in a 2021 coup.

Rescue operations to extract foreign nationals intensified on Tuesday as a 72-hour ceasefire took effect, but gunfire still rang out in the capital Khartoum.

The World Health Organization said that more than 450 people have been killed and over 4,000 wounded so far.

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A former Pheu Thai MP for Mukdahan has been sentenced to six years in jail for demanding a 5-million-baht bribe.

The sentence against Anurak Tangpanitanon was handed down on Tuesday by the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Persons Holding Political Positions.

Mr Anurak plans to appeal the sentence.

He had been found guilty earlier of demanding the bribe in exchange for passing a proposed budget allocation deal when he served on the House committee vetting the 2021 budget bill.

The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) recommended his indictment after its inquiry found there were grounds for the allegation.

In its ruling, the court found Mr Anurak guilty of violating the Criminal Code and the anti-corruption law for demanding the bribe from Sakda Wichiansilp, director-general of the Department of Groundwater Resources, in exchange for not cutting the department’s budget.

In addition to the six-year prison sentence, the court also retrospectively stripped Mr Anurak of the MP position he had held from April 19, 2021. It banned him from running in an election and holding political positions for life and from voting for 10 years.

In January this year, the court found him guilty of violating the parliamentary code of ethics for demanding the bribe. The misconduct was deemed an abuse of his authority as an MP to obtain personal gain, which is prohibited under Section 87 of the 2018 organic law on corruption suppression and prevention.

The scandal came to light when Mr Sakda revealed it during a meeting with the sub-committee reviewing the budget allocation for his department. He said a sub-committee member had demanded 5 million baht in exchange for passing the proposed budget allocation.

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A summer storm, gusty winds and hail damaged more than 60 residential units and a flea market and brought down five power poles in Prachantakham district of Prachin Buri on Tuesday afternoon.

More than 50 vending stalls at the flea market in tambon Dong Bang were damaged when the storm pounded the district at around 2.30pm. The storm also caused a metal structure to fall on a stall selling fried bananas, striking a 60-year old vendor. She sustained leg injuries and was rushed to Prachantakham Hospital, said her husband Or Sangvornkit, 73.

Market owner Ratchanee Kerdprasert, 66, said more than 50 stalls were damaged.

Prachin Buri governor Ronnarong Nakhonchinda said the storm also damaged 50 rooms and 10 twin houses for local officials and five warehouses at the Region 3 offices of the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department in Prachantakham district.

The storm also brought down five power poles, said the governor. Some big trees were uprooted as well.

A summer storm warning remains in effect for most of upper Thailand through Wednesday, the meteorological Department said on Tuesday.

The storm on Tuesday brought down five power poles in Prachantakham district. (Photo: Manit Sanabboon)

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Six Chinese men accused of duping wealthy Thai-Chinese in Chinatown into buying fake gold worth about 10 million baht have been arrested with almost 200 fake ingots.

Investigators from the Metropolitan Police Bureau apprehended the six suspects in front of Hua Lamphong railway station in Rong Muang area, Pathumwan district, on Monday on charges of colluding in theft and   criminal association, Pol Maj Gen Teeradej Thumsutee, chief of investigation at the MPB said on Tuesday.

They were identified as Zhong Xiaocong, 44, Li Xiaoyuan, 45, Zeng NanJing, 54, Yang Cuiyuan, 51,  Zhu Zhihua, 48,  and Guo Xianyu 49.

Officer also seized 179 fake gold bars, 10 fake gold statues, 8 thin sheets of real gold, 46 books of a Chinese association in Thailand, 24 ATM cards, 12 mobile phones and goldsmithing tools, Pol Maj Gen Teeradej said.

The suspects were members of the “Mangkorn Jiangxi” (Jiangxi Dragon) gang and allegedly swindled Thais of Chinese descent in Chinatown out of about10 million baht.

The suspects had found their victims in a book detailing names of Thai-Chinese descendants. They selected wealthy people and then phoned them, using the same methods as call scam gangs. The gang had previously worked as phone scammers in Indonesia, Pol Maj Gen Teeradej said.

The gang had included real gold among the fake gold. and selected those items to demonstrate it was genuine. The suspects lied to their victims, claiming to have a gold mining concession in Ayutthaya province. (continues below)

The six Chinese suspects, their faces blurred by police, with fake gold and other items seized from them. (Photo supplied/ Wassayos Ngamkham)

The arrests followed a complaint by a Chinese man with Thai nationality that he had been swindled by a Chinese gang into buying gold that later turned out to be fake. The gang had claimed to a lot of gold from a mine in Ayutthaya province, and offered it to him at a discounted rate. He said he had been swindled out of 500,000 baht from the gang.  After sending them the money for the gold, none of the gang could be contacted, he said.

Police investigators found that the gang had used a similar ploy to swindle other victims. To entice them into the trap, the gang showed many gold bars and cut one into small pieces that the victims could test to verify.

Gold shops had confirmed the samples were real. Once the money was paid to them, the gang vanished.  The victims only then found out that the gold they received was fake.

During questioning, all suspects denied the charges. They told police that they had travelled from Jiangxi in China, but admitted they worked for a phone scam gang in Indonesia before moving to Thailand.

The suspects were handed over to police at adjacent Noppawong railway station for legal action.

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The wife of a high-level police officer has been arrested for the cyanide-murder of a woman from Kanchanaburi, and investigators suspect her in the deaths of six other women.

Pol Lt Gen Jirabhop Bhuridej, the Central Investigation Bureau commissioner, identified the suspect as Sararat “Aem” Rangsiwuthaporn. He did not reveal her husband’s name, but he was reported to be a deputy provincial police superintendent in Ratchaburi province.

Crime Suppression Division (CSD) police armed with an arrest warrant, dated April 25, issued by the Criminal Court, arrested Ms Sararat on Tuesday about 11am at the government office complex on Chaeng Wattana road in Bangkok. She had a bottle of cyanide in her possession.

The arrest followed a complaint filed with the CSD by the mother and the elder sister of Siriporn “Koy” Khanwong, 32, who was from Kanchanaburi. Ms Siriporn collapsed and died on the bank of the Mae Klong river in Ban Pong district, where she went with friends to release fish for merit-making on April 14. Cyanide was found in her body.

Investigators came to the belief that Ms Sararat might be the person who mixed cyanide in Siriporn’s food, causing her death. She allegedly also stole the victim’s valuables. This led to her arrest.

After her arrest, Ms Sararat was taken to CSD headquarters for questioning.

Pol Lt Gen Jirabhop said the investigation was being expanded into whether Ms Sararat had anything to do with the deaths of six other women she had been in contact with and who died in a similar manner.

About 11pm on Tuesday, the death of another woman, Kanika Tuladecharak, 44, was brought to deputy police chief Pol Gen Surachate Hakparn’s attention by her father and daughter (names withheld). The two believed Ms Sararat was responsible for Kanika’s death.

The daughter said that on Sept 11, 2022, Kanika drove from her home in Bangkok to meet Ms Sararat in Ratchaburi. From there, her mother travelled in the same car with Ms Sararat.  According to an account given to her family, Kanika later fainted and died at a PTT petrol station in Potharam district, the daughter said. She said some of her mother’s valuables had disappeared. They included a mobile phone, cash and some gold jewellery.

The family suspected Ms Sararat was responsible for Kanika’s death.

At the Royal Thai Police office, Pol Gen Damrongsak Kittiprapas, the national police chief, said Pol Gen Surachate was in charge of the Siriporn investigation. Since there were six other similar cases, the investigation would be expanded to establish whether all seven cases were committed by the same person, since most of them occurred in Ratchaburi, he said.

Pol Gen Surachate said there were seven deaths in total that seemed related, the last one being in Ban Pong district. He would find out if and how the seven cases were connected. Two of the seven who died were policewomen, he added.

He said he had contacted the parents of five of the seven women for questioning. Some were not even aware their children might have been poisoned and, therefore, did not file a police complaint.

Pol Gen Surachate said the seven cases occurred in Kanchanaburi, Nakhon Pathom and Ratchaburi provinces, and he had already asked police there to investigate further and report to him. 

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CHON BURI: Only one jet ski was involved in the accident which claimed the lives of the driver and his 7-year-old passenger at South Pattaya beach on Monday night, not two as initially believed, a senior marine official said.

It also emerged that the young boy was seated in front of the driver, who was showing him how to drive.

The jet ski was hit by waves and overturned.

The driver drowned. He was not wearing his life jacket. He had given it to the boy to wear. The child was  grievously injured and later died in hospital.

The owner has been fined 10,000 baht for operating an unlicensed jet ski, and another 10,000 baht for  a second unlicensed jet ski that went out to help after the accident.      

It had been widely reported that two jet skis had collided, that the driver of the second machine, a man of Indian appearance, had left the beach before police arrived and was being sought for questioning. This was later found to be incorrect.

Ekkarat Khantharo, director of the Pattaya marine office, said on Tuesday afternoon that an initial investigation found there was no second jet ski involved. He spoke after questioning the owner of the jet ski on Tuesday.

During questioning the boat owner, who was not identified, had said an employee had been driving the jet ski, which he had bought in Suphan Buri for 50,000 baht and had not yet applied for a licence to operate it.

The employee took the jet ski out to give the young boy a 15 minute ride, charging 500 baht. The boy sat in front of the driver. The jet ski hit waves and overturned, leading to the death of the driver, who was not wearing a life jacket at the time. The boy, who was wearing a buoyancy vest, was thrown into the sea and received fatal injuries.

Another jet ski belonging to the same operator went out to help.

The Pattaya marine chief said the owner was fined 10,000 baht for use of an unlicensed jet ski and another 10,000 baht for the second jet ski that went to help, because that  was also unlicensed. 

Police were initially told, about 7pm, that two jet skis had collided in the sea off the south end of Pattaya beach, near Walking Street.

Thai media reported the dead boy’s grandparents had taken him to visit Pattaya. They hired a jet ski driver, at a cost of 500 baht, to take the boy for a ride to view the beauty of the beach from the water.  The crash occurred about 30 metres from the shore.

The Marine Department had earlier ordered that jet ski services halt at  6pm for fear of accidents, but some operators ignored the time limit, Thai News Agency reported.

The boy, Pathomporn Polrat, 7,  was pulled from the water by jet ski operators. He was seriously injured, including a broken jaw, and was rushed to a hospital, where he later died.

The jet ski driver, Pornsuphan Phumnok, 35, was found drowned, located by rescuers after a 30-minute search.

Witnesses said there was a second jet ski involved, that he driver was of Indian appearance and had walked away from the scene after the collision and disappeared.

Police examined security camera recordings from the scene to establish the cause of the accident.   

The Marine Department confirmed on Tuesday afternoon that a man was being questioned about the  accident. This man was later confirmed to be the jet ski owner. No second jet ski or driver was invovled.  

Rescue workers give first aid to the injured boy after he was brought to the shore. The boy was pronounced dead at hospital at 10,10pm on Monday. (Photo: Chaiyot Pupattanapong)

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CHON BURI: The Marine Department was questioning an Indian man said to be the driver of a jet ski involved in a collision with another jet ski, killing the driver and his seven-year-old passenger, at Pattaya beach early on Monday night.

The man left the scene after the fatal accident.

The jet ski crash was reported to police about 7pm. It occurred at the south end of Pattaya beach, near Walking Street.

Police said the dead boy’s grandparents had taken him to visit Pattaya. They hired a jet ski driver, at a cost of 500 baht, to take the boy for a ride to view the beauty of the beach from the water, Thai media reported. The crash occurred about 30 metres from the shore.

The Marine Department had earlier ordered that jet ski services halt at  6pm for fear of accidents, but some operators ignored the time limit, Thai News Agency reported.

Police were called to the beach, in tambon Nong Prue of Bang Lamung disrict, about 7pm. Witnesses said two jet skis had collided. The driver of one machine and a boy riding pillion were thrown into the water by the impact.

The boy, Pathomporn Polrat, 7, was wearing a life jacket and was pulled from the water by jet ski operators. He was seriously injured, including a broken jaw, and was rushed to a hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

The jet ski driver, Pornsuphan Phumnok, 35, was found drowned, located by rescuers after a 30-minute search.

The witnesses said the driver of the other jet ski was of Indian appearance. He had walked away from the scene after the collision, and disappeared.

Police examined security camera recordings from the scene to establish the cause of the accident and identify the other driver.   

The Marine Department confirmed on Tuesday afternoon that a Indian man was being questioned  about the crash. Police investigators were liaising with the department.

Rescue workers give first aid to the injured boy after he was brought to the shore. The boy was pronounced dead at hospital at 10,10pm on Monday. (Photo: Chaiyot Pupattanapong)

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