Rosewood smuggling case implicates resort owned by former senior police officer

By The Nation

 

 

As the investigation into smuggled rosewood expands, Forest Protecting Operation Centre (FPOC) law enforcement officials have found that a resort in a popular tourist attraction in the Wang Nam Khiao of in Nakhon Ratchasima province is involved.

 

The transnational network being investigated for logging Siamese rosewood is believed to be the largest of its kind in Thailand.

 

One of three loggers previously arrested last Saturday has reportedly confessed that the gang used the resort to plan its operations. The resort belongs to an unnamed former senior police officer, who claimed that the 12-rai (1.9-hectare) plot was under an Agricultural Land Reform designation. 

 

Typically, land under the designation is distributed by the Agriculteral Land Reform Office (ALRO) to landless farmers. However, ALRO informed FPOC officials that the land’s status was still under review and it had not been allocated to anyone.

 

Athapol Charoenshunsa, FPOC director and deputy chief of the Royal Forestry Department, said the centre had been coordinating with relevant agencies to crack down on the illegal logging. Illicit assets linked to the operation would be seized by Anti-Money Laundering Office, he added.

 

Deputy police chief General Srivara Ransibrahmanakul had also instructed police officers involved to participate in the operation, Athapol said. 

 

The centre’s Phayak Prai taskforce last Saturday teamed up with Thap Lan National Park rangers to track illegal-logging moves by the gang’s members at the Sakaerat Environmental Research Station in Nakhon Ratchasima province, where two age-old Phayung trees had been cut down and sawed into pieces, pending transportation. The park’s Central Network Anti-Poaching System (NCAPS) cameras were able to capture the gang returning to the site to transport the logs. The officials then showed up to make arrests, before some gang members fired at the officials and damaged their vehicles with gunshots. 

 

Three people were arrested at the scene, and at least two vehicles were seized as a result. 

 

The centre on Tuesday directed the forces, which included the Phayak Prai task force, officers from the Royal Thai Police and the natural resources and crime suppression division, and the military from the Internal Security Operations Command, to expand the investigation following the seizure of the vehicles. 

 

They learned that one of the cars had a fake licence plate, whereupon the officials went to check a car rental tent, from which one of the vehicles had reportedly been bought. They also found that the tent was operating in violation of the Consumer Protection Act. 

 

Athapol said that based on the centre’s initial investigation, the criminal ring was probably the largest illegal Phayung logging gang in the country. It is transnational, with several known criminals involved, he added.

 

“This crime case is very critical as a number of criminals on the records on similar Phayung logging cases invovled. Despite their criminal records, they did not fear, but repeated their crimes. They even shot the officials,” said Athapol.

 

Seventeen other gang members, some of them Vietnamese, had arrest warrants issued against them. The police yesterday managed to arrest two of them, and issued three more arrest warrants against the gang members.

 

Siamese rosewood has been extensively cut down from Thai forests in recent years, from the Northeast to the eastern forests of the World Heritage Site of Dong Phayayen-Khao Yai Forest Complex, of which Thap Lan National Park is a part. The surge in demand is partly driven by large-scale consumption of the wood in countries like China, where it is used for household furniture and decoration, as many people believe it is a wood that brings good luck and prosperity. In recent years, foreign nationals have been found to be involved in illegal logging activities, prompting officials to step up their suppression efforts with the help of technology such as the NCAPS.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30330667

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-11-2

Be interesting to see exactly who this senior retired policeman is.......but no doubt, this will likely go quiet as often happens!

Another wealthy retired policeman.....!

7 minutes ago, ChrisY1 said:

Be interesting to see exactly who this senior retired policeman is.......but no doubt, this will likely go quiet as often happens!

Another wealthy retired policeman.....!

He will be untouchable as he will threaten to release evidence of the illegal activities of those meant to prosecute him. 

Okay, okay, slowly... let me try and get this straight:

 

Authorities have busted a bunch of guys with criminal records who illegally met in the illegally erected resort of a retired senior police officer who illegally accommodated them there to discuss their illegal plans to log rosewood, which they did by illegally encroaching on the premises of an environmental research station before attempting to remove their illegal loot with an illegal car that they had apparently obtained from an illegal car rental tent so the wood could be illegally smuggled into China where it would be sold illegally to superstitious people.

 

Did I miss anything?  

Edited November 2, 20178 yr by Misterwhisper

5 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

In recent years, foreign nationals have been found to be involved in illegal logging activities, prompting officials to step up their suppression efforts

 

Damn those pesky foreigners.

8 hours ago, chickenslegs said:

 

Damn those pesky foreigners.

Foreign nationals hired by Thai crime bosses!

14 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Despite their criminal records, they did not fear, but repeated their crimes. They even shot the officials,” said Athapol.

capsulizes the state of crime in thailand

10 hours ago, Misterwhisper said:

Okay, okay, slowly... let me try and get this straight:

 

Authorities have busted a bunch of guys with criminal records who illegally met in the illegally erected resort of a retired senior police officer who illegally accommodated them there to discuss their illegal plans to log rosewood, which they did by illegally encroaching on the premises of an environmental research station before attempting to remove their illegal loot with an illegal car that they had apparently obtained from an illegal car rental tent so the wood could be illegally smuggled into China where it would be sold illegally to superstitious people.

 

Did I miss anything?  

Yes. They illegally shot at police.

13 hours ago, Misterwhisper said:

Okay, okay, slowly... let me try and get this straight:

 

Authorities have busted a bunch of guys with criminal records who illegally met in the illegally erected resort of a retired senior police officer who illegally accommodated them there to discuss their illegal plans to log rosewood, which they did by illegally encroaching on the premises of an environmental research station before attempting to remove their illegal loot with an illegal car that they had apparently obtained from an illegal car rental tent so the wood could be illegally smuggled into China where it would be sold illegally to superstitious people.

 

Did I miss anything?  

......LOL  best laugh I have had all morning.  'cept maybe the part where it is illegal to name the retired policeman, who will  sick his illegal legal eagles on whomever tries.............

China has an insatiable appetite for everything we deem rare, scarce and endangered,. That's the attraction to them and they love having you over to their home or office to show off their latest acquisition acquired, smuggled and purchased by them. Whenever there is demand there are the Chinese with the credit card. Oh I can hear you now..."it's not just the Chinese" ...maybe not but I know that culture well having lived and studied there for 6 years.

14 hours ago, Misterwhisper said:

Okay, okay, slowly... let me try and get this straight:

 

Authorities have busted a bunch of guys with criminal records who illegally met in the illegally erected resort of a retired senior police officer who illegally accommodated them there to discuss their illegal plans to log rosewood, which they did by illegally encroaching on the premises of an environmental research station before attempting to remove their illegal loot with an illegal car that they had apparently obtained from an illegal car rental tent so the wood could be illegally smuggled into China where it would be sold illegally to superstitious people.

 

Did I miss anything?  

Yes!

You forgot to mention that the usual illegal envelopes from the illegal timber poachers were withheld from the current authorities. Had these payments been made we would not be reading this story. The retired senior police officer should have known better and taken care of this simple matter. 

15 hours ago, Misterwhisper said:

Okay, okay, slowly... let me try and get this straight:

 

Authorities have busted a bunch of guys with criminal records who illegally met in the illegally erected resort of a retired senior police officer who illegally accommodated them there to discuss their illegal plans to log rosewood, which they did by illegally encroaching on the premises of an environmental research station before attempting to remove their illegal loot with an illegal car that they had apparently obtained from an illegal car rental tent so the wood could be illegally smuggled into China where it would be sold illegally to superstitious people.

 

Did I miss anything?  

Just the word, "allegedly" but otherwise  

There always has to be a senior level individual at the top of these activities. Glad that the issues are being addressed but will the team attempting the correction have the juice to take them down? 

10 hours ago, klauskunkel said:

Yes. They illegally shot at police.

With illegal weapons!!

17 hours ago, klauskunkel said:

Yes. They illegally shot at police.

 Do you mean that it is possible to shoot at police legally?

Just why all these multi millionaire property owners/ resort owners/ entrepreneurs/successful businessmen want to be police officers escapes me especially  when considering the low salaries paid by the RTP

A former senior policeman involved with something illegal  !! Never !!

I just hope that those responsible for the investigation are honest, beyond reproach, otherwise the former policeman will use anything he can find to use against them.

10 minutes ago, d123 said:

Just why all these multi millionaire property owners/ resort owners/ entrepreneurs/successful businessmen want to be police officers escapes me especially  when considering the low salaries paid by the RTP

With respect I think you have it back to front. They can start as police officers and then graft their way up until they are multi millionaire property owners/ resort owners/ entrepreneurs/successful businessmen and then they can retire from the police.

12 minutes ago, Cadbury said:

With respect I think you have it back to front. They can start as police officers and then graft their way up until they are multi millionaire property owners/ resort owners/ entrepreneurs/successful businessmen and then they can retire from the police.

Oh, thanks for that. I thought it didn’t look right when I typed it ?

 

have a a good weekend