Blue Diamond Affair: The mystery of the stolen Saudi jewels

By Roland Hughes & Chaiyot YongcharoenchaiBBC News

 

PANUMAS SANGUANWONG/Credit: BBC THAI

1989, Kriangkrai Techamong stole $20m of jewels and gems from his boss, a Saudi prince

 

The theft of precious jewels from a Saudi palace in 1989 set off a chain of killings and a diplomatic crisis that continues to this day. Now, in a rare interview, the man behind the theft tells his story.

 

The Saudi prince and his wife were away on holiday for three months, and the thief knew this was the time to strike.

 

Kriangkrai Techamong was running a significant risk. Stealing could be punished with amputation in Saudi Arabia, but Kriangkrai's was no ordinary theft - he had his eye on dozens of precious gems and jewels owned by his employer Prince Faisal, the eldest son of King Fahd of Saudi Arabia.

 

As a cleaner, Kriangkrai had come to know every corner of Prince Faisal's palace. And he had learned that three of the four safes containing the prince's jewels were regularly left unlocked. It was too good an opportunity to miss: he was struggling with gambling debt he had built up on the site where the palace workers lived, and this was a golden chance to flee the repressive country where he could no longer bear to live.

 

Full story: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-49824325

 

-- © Copyright BBC 2019-10-03

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"Thai customs. All items imported from abroad had to be checked as they entered the country. But because he knew Thai officials could not resist a bribe, Kriangkrai stuffed an envelope with money and a note and put it in his cargo. The note said his cargo had pornographic material inside, and he would prefer it not to be searched.

His plan worked,"

 

And the beat goes.????

This is a LONG BBC story, with pretty much nothing new from the guy who stole the gems.... So let me recap some key highlights:

 

--Thai steals big-time

--Customs accepts bribe

--police commit murders, extortion, fake autopsy results and more

--two of the Thai principals -- the thief and the police head of the investigation -- become monks temporarily after getting out of prison to atone.

--Other police are charged with related crimes and ultimately acquitted.

--the underlying case of what ultimately became of many of the missing goods is never solved; much of the stolen goods are never recovered.

8 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

So let me recap some key highlights:

+

Quote

photographs started circulating of the wife of one senior Thai official wearing a necklace with an uncanny resemblance to one of the missing items.

Wonder who that is ???

I really dislike how this sob story paints Kriangkrai as a sort of pitiful victim. If it hadn't been for  his greed and if only he had kept his greasy fingers off the loot, none of this entire deplorable saga would've materialized.

 

"What happened was like a nightmare to me," he says.

 

Boo-hoo, Mr. Kriangkrai. My heart bleeds for you. Not. What did you expect would happen to you after STEALING twenty million $ worth of valuables... and from a royal palace at that? Becoming a celebrated national hero?

37 minutes ago, Misterwhisper said:

I really dislike how this sob story paints Kriangkrai as a sort of pitiful victim. If it hadn't been for  his greed and if only he had kept his greasy fingers off the loot, none of this entire deplorable saga would've materialized.

 

"What happened was like a nightmare to me," he says.

 

Boo-hoo, Mr. Kriangkrai. My heart bleeds for you. Not. What did you expect would happen to you after STEALING twenty million $ worth of valuables... and from a royal palace at that? Becoming a celebrated national hero?

Dont have such a attitude....No telling who the Saudis stole some of the loot from....The loot was mostly likely stolen many times over many centuries...

2 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

This is a LONG BBC story, with pretty much nothing new from the guy who stole the gems.... So let me recap some key highlights:

 

--Thai steals big-time

--Customs accepts bribe

--police commit murders, extortion, fake autopsy results and more

--two of the Thai principals -- the thief and the police head of the investigation -- become monks temporarily after getting out of prison to atone.

--Other police are charged with related crimes and ultimately acquitted.

--the underlying case of what ultimately became of many of the missing goods is never solved; much of the stolen goods are never recovered.

you seem to have missed the most important point, the seized jewelry does not all make it back to saudi, and the shipment back contains counterfeits 

1 hour ago, Misterwhisper said:

I really dislike how this sob story paints Kriangkrai as a sort of pitiful victim. If it hadn't been for  his greed and if only he had kept his greasy fingers off the loot, none of this entire deplorable saga would've materialized.

 

"What happened was like a nightmare to me," he says.

 

Boo-hoo, Mr. Kriangkrai. My heart bleeds for you. Not. What did you expect would happen to you after STEALING twenty million $ worth of valuables... and from a royal palace at that? Becoming a celebrated national hero?

to the contrary, i think the guy had massive balls to pull it off.

in its way, the theft was an honest one, and power to him for it. if he had been caught stealing a few trinkets you would all be saying what an idiot to commit a crime with so little reward.

after his apprehension it should have been the end of it, he did his time, served his sentence, but somewhere along the line someone else stuck their fingers in the pie and the story goes on.

1 hour ago, metempsychotic said:

to the contrary, i think the guy had massive balls to pull it off.

in its way, the theft was an honest one, and power to him for it. if he had been caught stealing a few trinkets you would all be saying what an idiot to commit a crime with so little reward.

after his apprehension it should have been the end of it, he did his time, served his sentence, but somewhere along the line someone else stuck their fingers in the pie and the story goes on.

So according to your moral compass you would say it's alright if the maid cleaned out your wife's jewelry box and you'd somehow admire her for it, but you would condemn the gardener if he stole your watering hose, calling him an idiot for not having gone for the BMW instead?

2 minutes ago, Misterwhisper said:

So according to your moral compass you would say it's alright if the maid cleaned out your wife's jewelry box and you'd somehow admire her for it, but you would condemn the gardener if he stole your watering hose, calling him an idiot for not having gone for the BMW instead?

blah blah, i said nothing of the sort, spare me your indignation.

The whole story was and still is a blessing in disguise i.e. Saudis are still not allowed to travel to Thailand unless they have personal approval from the Minister of Interior.


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Best not to talk about all that's missing from the BBC article.

2 hours ago, fforest1 said:

Dont have such a attitude....No telling who the Saudis stole some of the loot from....The loot was mostly likely stolen many times over many centuries...

How does that change anything?

 

This guy stole it and got punished for it. He came away well as his act costed the country billions and 3 people paid with their lifes.

Thailand Officials should thank and reward Kriangkrai...

He started a string of events that have kept Saudi people from being allowed into Thailand. 

Thailand won that chain if events.

The BBC did a sorry ass story on this!!!!!!!!!!!!! The REAL STORY which cannot be revealed, specially now because the circumstances have changed drastically... All those people killed --- the mother and kids just think! what it was they were trying to cover up, then there was the Saudi diplomat; charged with getting to the REAL truth maybe he did... the REAL truth was so bad he had to be killed??!!!??? 

There was a long time ago like in the early 90's "some" Thai journalist was getting so close the REAL truth that he was shuttered up! Anyway the CIRCUMSTANCES changed... this TRUTH will never ever come out, when even then they closed, shut up, and destroyed evidence, and killed people so......

7 minutes ago, Bob12345 said:

3 people paid with their lifes.

 

More than that.... At least 6 and counting....

 

Quote

In early February 1990, two officials from the visa section of the Saudi embassy in Bangkok were driving towards the compound in the Thai capital. About a half a mile from their destination, their car was attacked by gunmen and both men were killed. At about the same time, another gunman entered the apartment of one of the men's colleagues and shot him dead.

 

Quote

Weeks afterwards, a Saudi businessman, Mohammad al-Ruwaili, was despatched to Bangkok to investigate what might have happened to the missing hoard. But he too was targeted - he was kidnapped and, while his body has never been found, he is widely believed to have been murdered.

 

Quote

It would later emerge that police tasked with finding the missing jewels had instead embezzled some of it, extorted the gem dealer, and murdered his wife and son. The police chief in charge of the original investigation, Chalor Kerdthes, ended up serving 20 years in prison.

 

A post containing comments of a forbidden subject have been removed. 

An interesting read:
 

Quote

 

April 2012

A Blue Thai Affair: The Blue Diamond Affair' s Illustration of the Royal Thai Police Force ' s Standards of Corruption

 

Penn State Journal of Law & International Affairs

 

 

https://elibrary.law.psu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1009&context=jlia

 

Lets not forget the 100,000+ Thais who lost their jobs in Saudi because of the greed of a few of their own countrymen. I flew Dhrahan - Bangkok many times and it was a real money tree for Thai Int.

I'm looking forward to the thriller-movie "The Blue Diamond Affair – based on a true story"...????

38 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

An interesting read:
 

 

https://elibrary.law.psu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1009&context=jlia

 

interesting read, thanks.

The diamond is not lost, it will eventually resurface, perhaps after the death of the current owner. I wonder what story will be used to explain its reemergence. 

Im amazed he is still in one piece

4 hours ago, metempsychotic said:

you seem to have missed the most important point, the seized jewelry does not all make it back to saudi, and the shipment back contains counterfeits 

 

Cheap poorly done ones, according to various accounts.

 

It would seem, those involved didn't even try very hard!

 

7 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

This is a LONG BBC story, with pretty much nothing new from the guy who stole the gems.... So let me recap some key highlights:

 

--Thai steals big-time

--Customs accepts bribe

--police commit murders, extortion, fake autopsy results and more

--two of the Thai principals -- the thief and the police head of the investigation -- become monks temporarily after getting out of prison to atone.

--Other police are charged with related crimes and ultimately acquitted.

--the underlying case of what ultimately became of many of the missing goods is never solved; much of the stolen goods are never recovered.

Doesn't get much more Thai then that, only need to add a screaming katoy.

One can read more about this on WikiLeaks. I won't post it here, because of one particular suggestion printed there.

5 hours ago, metempsychotic said:

you seem to have missed the most important point, the seized jewelry does not all make it back to saudi, and the shipment back contains counterfeits 

Might well have the stolen goods returned, just that they were fake to start with. 

40 minutes ago, DrTuner said:

Doesn't get much more Thai then that, only need to add a screaming katoy.

A couple of guns and thumping (not humping) a few girlfriends. 

1 hour ago, anterian said:

The diamond is not lost, it will eventually resurface, perhaps after the death of the current owner. I wonder what story will be used to explain its reemergence. 

Well, Thailand has an ex military politician who can explain in great detail how it works for watches, maybe he is available to help with a fool-proof story. 

2 hours ago, anterian said:

The diamond is not lost, it will eventually resurface, perhaps after the death of the current owner. I wonder what story will be used to explain its reemergence. 

"Oh look what we found when we were cleaning up. It must have slipped behind the couch cushions." 

With all the flimsy, unrealistic excuses used by the Thai government I would not be surprised to hear that.