Man behind Saudi Diamond Heist ordained 'for life'

[alfalfa19]

Anyone who is not familiar with story needs to do a bit of googling. The khaosod report seems to miss out huge chunks of what happened after the jewellery was stolen. It's an very Thai story, and incredible.

I agree, and feel the real story would make a great movie, but most people would not accept it as a true story.

[sabaii69]

He has moved from 1 good earner to another good earner.

Many men join the monkhood because it is easier to make money than working.

Is that a Rolex on his wrist?

[Bender]

i would love to see a documentary about this story

and i dream about a documentary that would name and shame the people who actually keep the blue diamond.

[Norvid 1950]

Where is Sherlock Holmes?

[MZurf]

In BP there is today an article about a recent meeting between the former gardener and the former police general that took the fall where they both blame their actions on "Curse of the Blue Diamond".

Wonder if I'll ever see a single Thai take responsibility for his actions in my lifetime....

[Sydebolle]

Kriangkrai Techamong apparently served as a gardener in a hermit kingdom jardine 27 years ago; I just wonder how he got out in a country requiring exit visas while his baggage allowance of 20kgs must have been "slightly" stretched to accommodate all those royal goodies from the house of Saud.

This story will never be cleaned up; meanwhile Thai workers were unable to transfer literally billions of dollars from jobs there back to the motherland. Saudi diplomats were killed, the ties downgraded and, despite many politicians approaches and visits this story will never "just fade away".

Whoever is really behind this story must be extremely powerful by the path of deaths and possible biggest economic damage to Thailand.

[geriatrickid]

Thais are way better off not going to Saudi to be enslaved by those sob's.

Instead you prefer they are enslaved locally working at an even lower wage?

[nuananddon]

LOS=Land of Secrets

[Colabamumbai]

The negative has positive effect. Now hardworking Thai's are staying home, so that they can improve the own country than going and working as slaves for others.

Most Arab countries wealth values are depends on the lowly paid workers now a days.

Most countries in the world depend on low paid workers.

[Khon Kaen Dave]

I know where it is! Its at the bottom of the Atlantic.I know this because Sophie Dahl threw it in there from the deck of the Titanic.

[SOTIRIOS]

....sociopaths.....

...it's all okay now because they said so.....

[Acharn]

He has moved from 1 good earner to another good earner.

Many men join the monkhood because it is easier to make money than working.

Do you have some kind of reference to back that up? Even the name of the Thai sewer worker who told you the story? It's not an "everybody knows" kind of thing. I'm sure some people join to get regular meals without the heavy lifting, but most monks don't make any money at it.The few who do, even those who carry Louis Vuitton purses on private jet flights, generally are not able to lead the high life. I mean, you always have to take the Armani suit off and put the yellow robes on again. It's not as if they can leave the office at 2:00 PM and head for the golf course. Or take their clients to the Q Club for an evening of ... well, come to think of it I don't have the faintest idea what goes on at the Q Club or the Narcissus or why anybody would want to go there.

[LannaGuy]

In BP there is today an article about a recent meeting between the former gardener and the former police general that took the fall where they both blame their actions on "Curse of the Blue Diamond".

Wonder if I'll ever see a single Thai take responsibility for his actions in my lifetime....

chaat na

[little mary sunshine]

Joined the ranks of the Rolls Royce, Rolex

And Jet Set Temple Group !!

[ThaiTony2]

Now that Saudi Arabia and everyone else know where he is, now what? Will there be more to this story to come?

[aussiandrew]

So I guess still no direct flights on the board for the future, bugger.

[Baerboxer]

The negative has positive effect. Now hardworking Thai's are staying home, so that they can improve the own country than going and working as slaves for others.

Most Arab countries wealth values are depends on the lowly paid workers now a days.

Your last sentence displays a profound knowledge of economics, financial awareness and why the petro-gas industry is so unimportant to these countries.

Thank you for sharing your genius with us.

The 3k or so Thai construction workers in the UAE might not agree. When I attended a party for some of them organized by the Thai Embassy in Abu Dhabi, the ones I spoke to said they were making good money, much better than they could earn in Thailand, where construction pays so little they rely on Burmese, Cambodian and Laos labor.

Edited March 18, 2016 by Baerboxer

[Baerboxer]

In BP there is today an article about a recent meeting between the former gardener and the former police general that took the fall where they both blame their actions on "Curse of the Blue Diamond".

Wonder if I'll ever see a single Thai take responsibility for his actions in my lifetime....

Says a lot about the people who really run things, and run them their way, here.

They are the role models.

[Baerboxer]

And where is the blue diamond now? Six people dead, others in jail, and according to wikipedia: "The number of Thais working in Saudi Arabia fell from 150,000-200,000 in 1989 to just 10,000 in 2008. The cost to Thailand is 200 billion baht in remittances as fewer Thai workers were permitted to go to Saudi Arabia.^{[9]', "Thai Foreign Minister to reopen Saudi gems scandal case". 2Thailand.net. Mathaba. 2008-03-06. Retrieved 14 Feb 2015}

All worth it of course, because it made some special people happy.

I think many know where the gem is......

Ah, Inspector Clouseau. Enlighten us please.

[gandalf12]

Send him back to Saudi and he can apolgise for his act there. I am sure the Saudi's would appreciate that

[arunsakda]

I skimmmed the headline thinking "jailed for life". Crikey I'm stupid...

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Thaidream]

There is no possible way that this man could have came up with the idea on his own to steal these diamonds. How many Thai laborers or anyone else could even recognize diamonds and evaluate their worth. He was a pawn of powerful interests that thought they could get away with the theft and make huge profits. When it all started to go bad- people were killed to cover a trail. the thief is alive because he does not fully know the complete chain of events and what he does know will never be revealed. The General who went to prison knows the complete story but he will never reveal the facts because he wants to remain alive.

Saudi Arabia will never restore full relations with Thailand until there is a resolution to the murder of their citizens in Thailand. For the greed of a few, so many have suffered.

[55Jay]

There is no possible way that this man could have came up with the idea on his own to steal these diamonds. How many Thai laborers or anyone else could even recognize diamonds and evaluate their worth. He was a pawn of powerful interests that thought they could get away with the theft and make huge profits. When it all started to go bad- people were killed to cover a trail. the thief is alive because he does not fully know the complete chain of events and what he does know will never be revealed. The General who went to prison knows the complete story but he will never reveal the facts because he wants to remain alive.

Saudi Arabia will never restore full relations with Thailand until there is a resolution to the murder of their citizens in Thailand. For the greed of a few, so many have suffered.

I read the story from some of the links provided earlier. I found it a bit odd that the rich Saudi Prince who could afford the gems and jewelry as described, would keep it in a safe able to be pried open with a screw driver ~ or so the story goes. Perhaps the Prince believed none of the slaves would ever be ballsy enough to steal it.

The Thai ex-gardener was incredibly lucky shipping it all back to Thailand via DHL. From what I've read on TVF, DHL/Fedex shipments invariably get the once-over on arrival more than the regular post. Maybe it was more lax all those years ago.

[arunsakda]

So who has the blue diamond?

[55Jay]

Thais rumor that Thaksin knew who had it. The rest is history.

[EyesWideOpen]

Japan just apologized to Thailand for the actions of some skinny dippers in Hua Hin.

Did Thailand apologize to Saudi Arabia?

The blue diamond story is my absolute favorite look at

how Thailand operates. Thailand apologised to Saudi

Arabia by trying to give them back fake copies of the

gems that were stolen. The entire story is almost like

science fiction, and should be required reading for

anyone that plans on staying in Thailand. One of the

funniest parts of the stories is when the chief of police for all of

Thailand is caught for murder involving the gems.

I am still waiting for the movie.

Edited March 19, 2016 by EyesWideOpen

[EyesWideOpen]

There is no possible way that this man could have came up with the idea on his own to steal these diamonds. How many Thai laborers or anyone else could even recognize diamonds and evaluate their worth. He was a pawn of powerful interests that thought they could get away with the theft and make huge profits. When it all started to go bad- people were killed to cover a trail. the thief is alive because he does not fully know the complete chain of events and what he does know will never be revealed. The General who went to prison knows the complete story but he will never reveal the facts because he wants to remain alive.

Saudi Arabia will never restore full relations with Thailand until there is a resolution to the murder of their citizens in Thailand. For the greed of a few, so many have suffered.

This is the saddest part of the story, the billions of baht

that has been denied to Isaan workers who were given

the boot afterwards. The gems were in essence chump

change to the Saudis, but they took it badly when some

of their citizens were killed trying to solve this crime....

With the killers most likely being the Thai police.....

Amazing Thailand indeed.

[EyesWideOpen]

So who has the blue diamond?

Do your research. It is well known where the diamond is.

Here is a pretty good story from the New York Times

regarding what happened.

http://www.nytimes.com/1994/09/19/world/saudi-envoy-helps-expose-a-thai-crime-group-the-police.html

I like this part....

"Yet whatever the damage to the economy and to Thailand's reputation, Mr. Khoja has become a hero to many Thais who admire his willingness to risk his own safety to expose what is widely understood to be the largest criminal organization in Thailand: the Royal Thai Police."

Here is a timeline...

http://jotman.blogspot.com/2009/08/timeline-of-blue-diamond-affair.html

Edited March 19, 2016 by EyesWideOpen

[arunsakda]

Read those years ago. They do not even speculate as to who posseses the missing Blue Diamond. I think it's just a bunch of rumour anyway. The suggestion that Hi-so wives would be flaunting them brazenly is hard to take seriously.

Really valuable pilfered art and jewels tend to stay underground for generations until they resurface. Meanwhile sold and sold again on black markets.

Art dealers are sometimes uniquely sleazy.

Edited March 19, 2016 by arunsakda

[EyesWideOpen]

Read those years ago. They do not even speculate as to who posseses the missing Blue Diamond. I think it's just a bunch of rumour anyway. The suggestion that Hi-so wives would be flaunting them brazenly is hard to take seriously.

Really valuable pilfered art and jewels tend to stay underground for generations until they resurface. Meanwhile sold and sold again on black markets.

Art dealers are sometimes uniquely sleazy.

The arrogance of the hisos here knows no bounds. There is

photos of some of them wearing the gems. Can't be bothered

to look for it, besides if I did the post would be deleted by

the mods. Besides, the value of the gems at 20 million

dollars is really chump change when you consider the

people involved..........