Thai Princess Fined For Illegal Border Crossing

[george]

Princess fined for unauthorised border crossing

Photo: Thairath.co.th

BANGKOK: -- HSH Princess Bhanuma Yugala, daughter of the late Prince Bhanubhandu Yugala and Mom Chailai Yugala, was arrested for crossing the border to Cambodia without travelling documents, Aranyaprathet immigration police said yesterday.

The Aranyaprathet immigration police yesterday detained a lady identified on her identity card as HSH Princess Bhanuma Yugala for crossing the border without documents, said Police Lt-Colonel Nirut Ruangchintana, chief of the immigration checkpoint.

Bhanuma told police that she crossed the border ten days ago to gamble at a casino complex in Poi Pet. An agent at a restaurant in a border market charged her Bt1,500 to take her to the casino complex.

Police fined Bhanuma Bt1,600 for illegally crossing the border. She had earlier said she did not have any money left to pay the fine because she was robbed of Bt100,000 in Cambodia.

Later she told police that her mother had transferred the money to her account. Police took her to withdraw Bt5,000 from an ATM machine in the border market.

She refused to say who the agent was who took her to Poi Pet but said that she did not pass through the Aranyaprathet immigration checkpoint.

She attempted to negotiate with police, saying that if they let her go to Poi Pet, she would tell them about the agent. Police said they could not allow that.

Nirut said police did not believe that Bhanuma was robbed of Bt100,000 because she refused to give details about the robbery and she also contradicted her own statements by indicating that she did not have money that could have been stolen. After paying the fine, Bhanuma refused to leave the investigation room and asked police to let her cross the border to gamble at Poi Pet.

When police refused, she left to go to the border market and refused to go back to Bangkok. Police officers had been assigned to keep a watch on her.

Bhanuma, who operates a restaurant and a guesthouse in Bangkok, is the sixth heiress of Prince Bhanubhandu and Mom Chailai.

Her mother runs two jewellery shops at The Emporium shopping mall.

--The Nation 2005-07-23

[george]

A royal gamble turns sour for Thai princess

BANGKOK: -- A glass slipper turned into a pumpkin for a Thai princess, when her luck turned sour after a gambling fix led her to flout immigration laws, The Nation newspaper reported Saturday.

Princess Bhanuma Yugala, daughter of the late Prince Bhanubhandu Yugala, was arrested and fined for crossing the border illegally to go on a gambling binge at a Cambodian casino.

Gambling is illegal in Thailand, yet widespread throughout Thai society. Thus, major casino owners have established operations just across the border into Cambodia, aimed primarily at Thai bettors.

Authorities at the Aranyaphrathet border post were at a loss to explain why the princess had chosen to take a shady illegal route, rather than the legal one used daily by hundreds of high-rolling compatriots.

Police officials told the newspaper that Bhanuma did confess to hiring a people-smuggler from the village market to take her across the border 10 days before, to try her luck at the Poi Pet casino complex.

When her luck ran dry she returned to Thailand penniless, whereupon she was nabbed by immigration authorities and fined 1,600 baht (about $40) for an illegal border crossing, the report said.

A police source told the newspaper that she was unable to pay the fine, alleging that she had been robbed in Cambodia. He said officials did not believe her story, nor did they allow her to go free.

The princess managed to contact her mother who deposited some money into her bank account to pay the fine and the return trip home to Bangkok, the report said.

But after police accompanied the princess to an automated-teller machine to withdraw the money to pay the fine, they said she refused to return home, and pleaded instead for legal passage back to the Cambodia-based casino to try her luck one more time.

When they demurred, the princess disappeared into the alleys of the border-town market, with police agents assigned to watch out for her well-being in hot pursuit, the newspaper reported.

Both Thai-Buddhist strictures and governmental laws prohibit gambling, but those are widely flouted, even by monks, in the betting-crazed society.

A high-profile raid at a notorious underground casino in Bangkok last month renewed the public debate over gambling, even as Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra suggested that perhaps the prohibition should finally be lifted.

Neighbouring countries have begun reaping huge profits from promoting legal high-end casinos for insatiable Asian bettors.

--DPA 2005-07-23

[george]

Admin notice:

Those news clippings was posted as a reference only.

When/if commenting this article, please use common sense, and good taste, as bad-mouthing the Royal Thai Family is a very serious crime in Thailand.

Any offending posts will be deleted and member immediately banned.

/Admin

[britmaveric]

Status has priviledges. Embarrassing to say the least, but I'm sure it will give thaskin reason to open up casinos in LOS.

Thai Royals paid by the government like our royal family?

Edited July 23, 2005 by britmaveric

[Heng]

Strange that this item even made the news. You can get Thai id's and passports in this country by just knowing the right palats, or nai amphurs. One would have assume that HRH was as connected as anyone could get, certainly beyond business cards and name dropping.... and should have been afforded royal courtesy.

?

[george]

Thread closed.

Reason: Advise by our lawyers

/Admin