Director-General visits Phuket to monitor the case progress of the encroachment on 178 Rais in Leypang and Layan beaches

Director-General visits Phuket to monitor the case progress of the encroachment on 178 Rais in Leypang and Layan beaches

       This case started from the Bureau of Natural Resources and Environment Crime of the DSI conducting investigations into the case of encroachment on 178 Rais of Leypang and Layan beach lands in Choeng Thale Subdistrict, Thalang District, Phuket Province as its special case no. 4/2560 before submitting its inquiry files to the National Anti-Corruption Commision (NACC) for consideration under its authority. Subsequently, the NACC returned the said inquiry files to the DSI for legal proceedings and the case is being investigated by the Bureau of Natural Resources and Environment Crime as the special case no. 23/2562.

       Afterwards, during the proceedings of the Bureau, there were petitioners lodging their requests for the said lands under supervision of Phuket Province and Choeng Thale Subdistrict Administrative Organization to be state lands by evicting the encroachers and demolishing the buildings in the said disputed areas. The legal execution officers of the Phuket Provincial Legal Execution Office conducted the legal execution in accordance with the Supreme Court’s judgment, while the Choeng Thale Subdistrict Administrative Organization petitioned for the demolition of buildings in the said disputed areas. However, some encroachers have not complied and some provided the reasons for not demolishing the buildings as ordered by the judment of the court, hindering the complete legal execution under the Court’s judgment by legal execution officers. In addition, the demolition of buildings require budgets.

       Today, (Thursday, April 28, 2022) Mr. Triyarith Temahivong (the Director-General) accompanied by Pol.Capt. Piya Raksakul (Director of Bureau of Financial, Banking and Money Laundering Crime), Mr. Suppachai Khamkhoom (Head of Special Case Operation Center, Area 8, Bureau of Regional Operation) and his team traveled to meet and discuss with Mr. Bancha Thanu-in (Thalang District Chief), Pol.Col. Chumpol Thananurak (Superintendent of Choeng Thale Police Station), Mr. Manoch Panchalard (Chief Executive of Choeng Thale Subdistrict Administrative Organization) and Mr. Pawin Kuman (Director of Phuket Provincial Legal Execution Office) to monitor the progress and acknowledge facts by discussing the solutions. This field work in the disputed areas was to monitor the progress of law enforcement.

       The Director-General stated that today, the DSI traveled to discuss with the Chief Executive of Choeng Thale Subdistrict Administrative Organization, the Director of Phuket Provincial Legal Execution Office, the Superintendent of Choeng Thale Police Station and the Thalang District Chief to acknowledge the reasons hampering the proceedings to fully regain the said 178-Rai land to be the state land. In the Meeting, the Phuket Province and Choeng Thale Subdistrict Administrative Organization reported the hurdles faced and requested the DSI to jointly solve the aforesaid problems with other relevant agencies. Initially, this case has clear evidence with the hearings and the complete judgment of the Criminal Court for Corruption and Misconduct Case that the title deeds were not possessed and utilized prior to 1954 and the land locations contrasted with the land locations in the declarations of land procession notice (SK. 1). Therefore the inquiry officials requested the Criminal Court’s arrest warrants against the accomplices, who then met with the inquiry officials to acknowedge the charges of occupying, taking possession of a forest for oneself or for others without permission from the competent official under Section 54 of the Forest Act, B.E. 2484 (1941) and occuping or taking possession of state lands without possessing rights in such land and without permission from the competent official under Section 9 of the Land Code. The appraisal price of the lands adjacent to the sea in the areas of  Leypang beach and Layan beach was worth 250 million baht per Rai. In total, the damage value of this case amounted to 44,500 million baht.

       The DSI changed its special case inquiry official team responsible for this case to be the team under supervision of Pol.Lt.Col. Supat Thamthanarug (Deputy Director-General) as the head of the team. For the lands in Leypang beach, the Supreme Court rendered its judgment that the disputed land, covering 178 Rais of lands in Leypang and Layan beaches, Moo 4, Choeng Thale Subdistrict, Thalang District, Phuket Province, possessed by 6 persons operating private businesses (the said persons as plaintiffs sued the officials and government agencies as defendants), is the public lands for common use by the public. From this time forth, the DSI will integrated its collaboration at the province level and set up a working group for the resolution of legal execution in the said case.

Dated April 28, 2022