RTH10260

I don't believe that the "west" is taking any hard hits because of the Ebola crisis, at least not yet, and I assume that theses Thai tourism managers at thinking of the Japanese, Korean or Chinese travellers. The handful of cases have all been quarantained and in hospital care. There is no epidemy and public scare in Europe nor in the Americas.

On the other hand, these managers of Thainess would be well advised to brainstorm over how to minimize damage of a local outbreak of Ebola of the tourism industry.

I did not join that other thread on speculating on the result of an Ebola outbreak in Thailand (Chang Mai) but it's my strong believe that this would be a major desaster in the country and the local tourism industry will reach a Ground Zero, with no visitors at all for a couple of years.

Absolutely, no doubt the British police have already been collecting their evidence, interviewing all Hannahs and Davids friends who were there with them as well as Sean. Its plain obvious this will have been done. Its time for Thailand to realise the games going to be over very very soon and if they obstruct the British police in their endeavors then the UK will make this plain to the world and Thailand that this has been a complete cover up for the sake of a few influential people. It does not bode well for Thailand now or in the future.

Traps set and ready to bite,,,,A British PM does not get involved in a matter like this for no reason. The British know there is a miscarriage of justice going down here......

And it's unacceptable and they will do everything in there power to stop it.

Britain on its own has no power, but when included with Europe, USA and maybe Japan ...thats power

A travel warning against Thailand issued by the former would be devastating for Thailand.

These guys, whatever their role, will smell a rat a mile away and be on it.

I believe the 'rat' has already been smelled

with the minor detail that any such interview done in the UK has exactly null value in Thailand.

Traps set and ready to bite,,,,A British PM does not get involved in a matter like this for no reason. The British know there is a miscarriage of justice going down here......

And it's unacceptable and they will do everything in there power to stop it.

Britain on its own has no power, but when included with Europe, USA and maybe Japan ...thats power

A travel warning against Thailand issued by the former would be devastating for Thailand.

These guys, whatever their role, will smell a rat a mile away and be on it.

I believe the 'rat' has already been smelled

The trap? In the UK I believe this is also called election day

the difference is the british police do there job don't take tea money ,wish i had to pay 200 bt every time i got stopped for speeding in the UK ,

Even Prince Charles was fined for speeding!

No way! That is a totally screwed up system if the future king is given a speeding fine.

Why? No-one should be above the law, what's so special about Prince Charles?

You couldn't even contemplate making such a statement in public in Thailand.

As wouldn't be needed with all roads blocked off and cleared from traffic an hour before a privileged vehicle passes at the speed of choice.

/* snip */

Could be a way to get British police in the country under the radar. Family hires Thai PI, who works with "assistants" originating from England, and work all the clues of the case, not just those followed by the BIB.

On another aspect, what are the BIB thinking? Do they for one moment think that a Westerner would want to pursue this avenue? They really have no idea.

I just don't believe this case is of such high visibility in Thailand that a local PI will expose themselves to the troubles and invite the wrath of "influential people" that possibly may be involved. Remember, your Thai PI will have to live the rest of his life here, a PI does not have the backing as investigative journalist may have in the media.

Prayut said Cameron told him that he saw nothing wrong with the Thai justice system, but that many Britons had suspicions about the police investigation.

Isn't that whats called a 'contradiction'

Depends what you mean by a "contradiction" (in inverted commas), if you mean, simply, a contradiction then clearly it is not, it's called two differing views.

I'd say a diplomatic mind advised an army brain to walk softly on the matter, but the army brain does not absorb the finer details.

again if Thailand Junta has the will....UK police will not only observe..but also investigate and collect some evidence

same as the australian police in Bali,Indonesia

Bad example. In the Bali case the investigators were in place "within hours" so to speak. They were especially there to save forensic evidence of a bombing, but not to investigate and question people. In the KT case any Brits will be coming weeks too late and the place of crime has already been raked over. Nor will the Brits be allowed to make any interviews and investigation into people either.

[/* large snip */

Anyway, all that is required of the British police, is they take their own DNA samples from the accused, and send them back to the UK. No investigation required.

That's was keeps me puzzled. Many asking for a DNA sample of the accused be sent to the UK.

Then what?

The forensic examination (disection) of the bodies was done in Bangkok. The hospital there will hold the tissue samples taken, and any swipes of body parts.

After that the corpses were returned to the UK and have no further evidential value as too many people handled them, leading to DNA contamination. Not to think how evidence wise the bodies were "secured" on the beach of KT.

Now how can anyone be sure about the state of the evidence determined in Bangkok and that it has not been tampered with?

The UK investigators would need to be able to get their own second opinion on that stuff and do their own DNA analysis on said evidence to compare with that of the accused.

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I hope, for the British cops sake, that they will be allowed to carry weapons.

As a rule of thumb, British cops don't carry in the normal course of their duties.

Why would they want to carry a weapon whilst on holiday?

some people are dense. the British police are not coming on "holiday". now go back to sleep.

Formally the Brits will have an order, yes, but defacto they have limited to no clout in Thailand. They will find themselves on a holiday trip to BKK, KT and any other island they wish to see. Much handshaking and speeches with photographs among officials. But else?

Thai police are very dangerous. One example where a Saudi businessman went to Thailand to investigate the theft of a diamond from a Saudi prince. He was murdered.Lt Gen Chalor of the RTP was sentenced to death in 2009, which was reduced to 50 years later. Guess what he is now a free man. 6 policemen were jailed for murder too. Being a senior policeman in Thailand is akin to being a mafia boss in other countries. They cannot get there by being a nice, law-abiding citizen.

Note the minor difference between an unknown private businessman and an official delegation from another nation. Nobody with sane mind will touch a delegate. But then the delegate in this case will not get anywhere near of investigating on his own and turn up dangerous facts.

The PM should not even been invited to attend he is unelected Thailand is under martial law

Countries get invited, not people. It's the countries choice who they delegate. A saavy politician may have chosen a top ranking official from the Foreign Ministry as delegate so shortly after moving himself into the prime minister position.

He also told reporters that Cameron expected the British public to "take some more time to understand this matter".

How about "it will take some time before Thai authorities understands that this will not go away and the UK is watching and ............. judging"

Happens when military trained minds attent international meetings rather than diplomats.

Keeps me wondering how many in the Thai foreign service are waiting for the General to trip and faceplant. I guess Thai tradition will keep staff from warning of the banana peel in the way.

"Details of the agreement were yet to be worked out, but would involve "close coordination" between Thai authorities and the British Embassy in Bangkok, Col. Weerachon Sukondhapatipak, the deputy spokesman of Thailand's Army, said."

From ABC Australia

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-18/british-police-to-join-thai-investigation-into-tourist-murders/5824552

Will they be able to bring the visiting police officers to Thailand before the case goes to trial, or will there be some diplomatic snafu that delays them?

They don't trust their staff.

Right - the CCTV and the cash register stop working during a power cut.

I have noticed that lately there are some appliances available that keep them working.

Think they're called UPS or something.

A small business type UPS will keep some electronics going for about 20minutes. Investing into anything larger will drive a typical Thai shop out of business.

We know nothing about the exact circumstances of how it happened

When the costa concordia sunk i dont remember reading so many negative comments about Italy as a country

but about the captain.

Difference is that Italy has fairly well enforced standards while Thailand needs first to adapt to western standards and then enforce them.

The post about finding out about phone used in what area regarding certain peoples whereabouts is interesting as 3g on dtac as probably most networks is supplied by the US.

No need to ask Thailands permission

Duh --- the hardware may have been supplied by the Brits, but Japanese or Korean, Taiwanese is more likely. The networks are run by Thais and no connectivity data reaches the UK. Though GCHQ may have secret spy copies. Apart from that, what use do you expect from this data when you cannot pinpoint the real subscriber. Not all sim cards have been registeted. The actual content of phone calls remains a secret cause never taped.

Question: what can UK police officers to at this point as the RTP has already reported the case to the prosecutors, even "perfected" some "flaws", and technically it seem to me the case is out of their hands for the time being. Will the embassy be able to have a third party to look at the dossier? Best I can think of just now is that the defendants legal team goes thru the papers with the UK police.

Will they only demolish or will the rubble get removed too to get pristine conditions back?

House owner Sombun Thongkrub said he did not kill the dogs, but bought dog carcasses from sellers,

And how long have those carcasses been lying around in the hot sun until delivered? Death by car hitting them, by some desease or just plain old age?

I wonder who will be first to claim ownership of the Gulf of Thailand.

Already happened, belongs to the Thai Navy and it's a top secret place to hide their submarines

All the coastline beaches belong to the state. Walking street in Pattaya on the seaward side is all built illegally, and they tried to have the buildings pulled down some 20 years or so ago. However on closer investigation they found that many of the building belonged to senior politicians and so the demolition could not proceed.

On my first ever visit to Pattaya end of 1989 the sea looking side of what now is called Walking street was still partially fishermens huts (at the marina end) and part of the old Pattaya fisher village. The top end to Beach road was part of the beer bar scene. Todays Simomns seafood restaurant with its deck over the sea was then the open stage for the tranny shows. Any encroaching must have taken place at the time of the R&R for the US forces in Vietnam. I guess its difficult today to determine if the fishermen back then were legally owning beachfront property and persuaded to hand it over to influential persons.

IMHO calling to scratch this section of Pattaya to return it to a "pristine" form is stupid.

Quick ring the police that old man just walked past with two buffalo.

Benz or BMW keys on the nose rings?

New New Amazing Thailand - the hub of crackpot ideas!

I think you mean "the hub of crockpot ideas...."

Crockpots, one of the household appliancies to be given away at reduced prices 55555

ps. Have producers agreed to use their standard quality product line or will this result in extra Chinese specially cheap imports?

pps. When ever has selling in smaller units thus nominally cheaper resulted in cheaper overall price for the same amount of a product at larger quantity?

Would it be too much to hope that the British government might, in concert with the Myanmar government, assemble and pay for a 1st class legal team to defend these boys? In the meantime, shine a big, continuous, hot spotlight on the jail where they are confined, to assure that they won't decide to "commit suicide", as was already hinted at by some jail honcho.

This case stinks so bad!

Even if the UK thinks this stinks, the accused are not British citizens. Behind the screens they could encourage some UK human rights organization to step in. As for the "1st class legal team", it would have to be Thai lawyers, and I have much doubt that their mindset and values match western thinking. It's not a case where honours can be garnered for their future professioal life in Thailand.