KOH SAMUI — The Natural Resources and Environmental Crime Suppression Division (NED), or so-called Forest Police, has inspected a luxury resort project on Koh Samui, discovering it to be owned by Chinese investors and constructed illegally with heights exceeding legal limits. Construction has been ordered to halt immediately.
Pol. Maj. Gen. Watcharin Poosith, the commander of the NED, under the Central Investigation Bureau, has instructed officials together with technicians from the Koh Samui City Municipality to inspect the Anzhu Seamate vacation home project in Maret sub-district, Koh Samui district, Surat Thani province, which is suspected to have been built illegally.
No workers were found on site during the inspection on July 14, indicating that the construction work had already been temporarily halted due to a municipal order because of the illegal construction work. The contractor had claimed to be unaware of the violations, but had agreed to stop work and correct the designs.
The Koh Samui City Municipality filed a complaint with the Bo Phut Police Station about the violation of government orders and the unauthorized construction work. This prompted the NED to inspect the construction site. It turned out that there were usually about 50 workers present every day except Sundays.
The investigation revealed that the buildings are connected structures that, contrary to the approved plans, are more than 10 meters high and exceed the legal height limit of 6 meters.
The project is registered under the name of Anju Cement Company, a Chinese investment group that acquired about 10 rai of land for construction in 2018. Chinese nationals applied for permission to build 34 houses and hired Anju Cement Company as the contractor. However, the construction deviated from the approved plans and was changed from individual houses to connected buildings.
The NED will therefore locate all those responsible in order to question them and take legal action, and will order an immediate halt to construction.
Earlier, on July 13, the forest police had also inspected a villa compound in Bo Phut district, which consisted of 53 houses. It was found that 6-7 houses had already been completed and sold to foreigners for about 10 million baht each, while the others were still under construction.
Pol. Col. Apisan Chairat, Superintendent of the 5th NED, stated that after a meeting with the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) Region 4 and reviewing evidence, there is confidence in prosecuting the offenders. Completed constructions were found to be rented out as hotels, targeting foreign guests.
Visible building problems included both authorized and unauthorized structures, with some authorized structures located in prohibited areas, necessitating further investigation into possible government involvement.
This continued inspection and prosecution follows recent aerial surveys by ISOC Region 4 in Koh Samui district to identify encroachments and illegal constructions in forest areas. Numerous hilltop villas were discovered, particularly in Chaweng Noi, Bo Phut Subdistrict.
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