SONGKHLA — Police say they are still looking for ten assets belonging to the alleged ringleader of human trafficking operations in southern Thailand, who is currently in police custody along with 55 other trafficking suspects.

According to police, three Mercedes-Benzes and seven fishing boats owned by Patchuban Angchotipan, aka Ko Tong, have been missing since police charged him with human trafficking and illegal detention on 11 May. Patchuban, who is a former local administrative official and owns resorts in Satun province, surrendered to police on 18 May.

"Whoever is possessing these assets will also be guilty of money-laundering," said Pol.Gen. Aek Angsananont, deputy commander of Thai Police. He added that police have confiscated more than 200 million baht worth of assets from suspected traffickers since they launched a crackdown on the network in May. 

Police say Patchuban is the leader of the crime syndicate that detained and abused foreign migrants in jungle prisons near the Thai-Malaysian border until their relatives paid hefty ransom fees. At least five of such detention camps, along with mass graves that contained hundreds of corpses, were discovered by Thai officers in May, prompting police to launch an unprecedented crackdown on the long-running human smuggling operation.

The migrants detained at the camps were mostly Bangladeshis and Rohingyas – a Muslim ethnic group that faces brutal persecution in western Myanmar – who were kidnapped or lured from their homes by traffickers. Many were ultimately seeking to settle in Muslim-majority Malaysia. 

The crackdown in Thailand disrupted well-trodden trafficking routes and helped trigger a humanitarian crisis in the region, as thousands of migrants, no longer able to land in Thailand, were abandoned by their smugglers at sea. After weeks of rejecting the boat people, Malaysia and Indonesia agreed last month to provide the migrants with temporary asylum.

Over 5,600 Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants have landed in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand since the crisis began in early May.

As of today, 89 arrest warrants have been issued by Thai police in connection with trafficking network, and 56 suspects are under arrest, said Pol.Gen. Aek. Those in custody include police officers, a high-ranking army general, and local bureaucrats.

Pol.Gen. Aek asked the public to contact police if they have any information about the suspects who are still on the run, and can be identified in the wanted poster (right) that police are hanging in southern provinces.

A trial for the arrested suspects is expected to being around 25 July, said Pol.Gen. Aek, adding that more than 230 witnesses will be called to testify against them.

"At the moment, we have discovered that some suspects have used their influence and henchmen to intimidate witnesses not to testify in court or identify the suspects as the perpetrators," Pol.Gen. Aek said. "The witnesses who have been intimidated have already filed charges with the officers, and we have issued three arrest warrants on those who intimidated the witnesses." 

Asked to comment on Lt.Gen. Manas Kongpaen, a senior army commander who was arrested on 3 June, Pol.Gen. Aek said he is still being held in a prison to await trial, and has not received any privileged treatment.

BEIJING (DPA) — China's land reclamation in the South China Sea will "be completed in the upcoming days," the Foreign Ministry said Tuesday, as the project has increased tensions in disputed areas.

China will now start to build facilities on the land, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said.

"Apart from satisfying the need of necessary military defense, the main purpose of China's construction activities is to meet various civilian demands and … better perform China's international obligations and responsibilities," he said.

Those include search and rescue, disaster prevention, scientific research, meteorological observation, environmental conservation, navigation safety as well as fishing management, Lu said.

China has drawn criticism for building airstrips and buildings on reefs in parts of the South China Sea far beyond its shoreline, including in territories administrated by its neighbours.

They include the Spratly Islands and the nearby Paracels, known to the Chinese as the Nansha and Xisha, respectively.

A US Department of Defense report on China's military power warned in May that emerging outposts on artificial islands could be used for surveillance systems, harbours, an airfield and logistical support.

The Pentagon report said China had reclaimed 200 hectares as of late December.

Lu said construction on the Nansha islands and reefs was "lawful, reasonable and justified."

He said China will "firmly work to safeguard its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests at the same time as … working to resolve disputes through negotiation" with member states of the Association of South-East Asian Nations.

BANGKOK — Thai police say they are tracking down whoever is behind a rumor about an impending counter-coup against the military junta that seized power from an elected government one year ago.

Pol.Gen. Somyot Pumpanmuang, commander of the Royal Thai Police, said he has instructed the technological crime division team to investigate the incident.

The rumor, spread among the mostly anti-junta Redshirts, alleged that a group of senior military commanders is plotting to overthrow junta chairman Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha. The claim asserted that the conspirators were backed by Gen. Prem Tinsulanonda, a former Prime Minister who is currently a top adviser to His Majesty the King, and who many Redshirts believe has a strained relationship with Gen. Prayuth.

The military government has dismissed the rumor as baseless. 

"We are checking who posted this rumor," Pol.Gen. Somyot said. "If we determine that the rumor caused panic or affected national security, we will prosecute them, because it is not true. Furthermore, based on our intelligence agency's inspection of the information, and our discussion with officers from the three branches of the armed forces, we have not seen any information or possibility of a counter-coup." 

Pol.Gen. Somyot added, "I believe we will find the persons who posted the rumor for prosecution soon." 

He also reminded the public that police will take legal action against those responsible for spreading any other information on the internet that causes "panic or disorder" in the country, including people who have posted the locations of traffic police checkpoints online to alert other motorists. 

Police will presumably seek to prosecute those behind the alleged rumor with Thailand's Computer Crime Act, a controversial law that bans a variety of offenses on the internet, including posting pornography, hacking a computer system, and spreading any information that "affects national security" or the "good morality of the people."

Critics of the law say its broad language is regularly used by authorities to suppress freedom of expression.

"This story should end already," deputy junta leader Gen. Prawit Wongsuwan said yesterday of the counter-coup rumor. "As for people who wrote about the counter-coup on social media, I have instructed four and five branches of my men to track them down. Once they have been caught, they will be brought [to justice]. So, I'd like to warn them, be careful, you will be in a big trouble if we catch you." 

RAYONG — Two people have been hospitalized after they were attacked by an elephant that was being used to beg for money on a beach in eastern Thailand.

[UPDATE: Thai Man Dies After Being Struck by Elephant in Rayong]

Kusuma Laopan, 32, said she and two of her friends were sitting on a beach in Noen Phra district of Rayong province last night when a man led a 5-year-old male elephant over and asked the group to buy sugar cane for the animals. 

After she and her friends refused, the elephant handler, known as a mahout, started to walk away, but one of the elephants suddenly snapped and charged at two of her friends, Kusuma said.

"I and other tourists in the area ran for our lives," Kusuma recounted. "Luckily, the mahout stepped in and stopped the elephant, so it stopped harming other people. The mahout then led the elephants away to the other side of the road."

The two victims have been identified as Weeranat Yoodee, 28, and Thongpoon Boonraksatrakul, 30. Weeranat was struck by the elephant's tusks in his chest, while Thongpoon suffered bruises on his right rib cage from the elephant's stomping, according to medical workers at Krungthep Rayong Hospital.

The two men are in stable condition, medical workers said.

Elephants are routinely brought by mahouts to beg for money from tourists in urban areas and tourist attractions around Thailand. The practice has been widely condemned by animal rights advocates, who say it is harmful for the elephants. 

Under Thailand’s Animal Cruelty Prevention Act, which was passed by the interim parliament in late 2014, those caught "causing unnecessary cruelty" to animals face a 40,000 baht fine and two years in prison. Thai authorities have said the law applies to people who bring elephants to beg in cities.

Police in Rayong said the mahout whose elephant attacked the tourists last night will be arrested and face legal action.

"Rayong province has strictly forbidden using elephants to wander and sell goods," said Pol.Lt.Col. Thawat Norsingha, an officer at Mueang Rayong Police Station. The mahout's elephants will be brought to a local animal shelter, he added.

The mahout, 21-year-old Witthawat Uanduangdee, told reporters that he brought two elephants from Buriram province four days ago. He said he was "confused" to see one of elephants attack tourists because both creatures have been very friendly to people.

"I think it might have been startled by car headlights and engine sounds," Witthawat said, adding that he now regrets his actions.

BANGKOK — Thailand's Foreign Correspondents' Club has cancelled a discussion on the Kingdom’s draconian lese majeste law after police delivered a verbal order from the ruling military junta.

The law, which falls under section 112 of Thailand’s criminal code, punishes insulting the Thai monarchy with up to 15 years in prison. It is the harshest law of its kind in the world, and has been applied with renewed vigor by the military junta that seized power from a democratic government in May 2014.

The event’s panelists, which included both critics and supporters of the law, were slated to discuss “trends in the application of Article 112” at the FCCT on 17 June.

However, according to a statement released by the club today, the event has been canceled after police informed the FCCT that soldiers would “come and seal off access” to the building if the event goes forward.

The FCCT reportedly requested a written order from the military government, but was told that the junta would “not issue such a letter because they fear it would be used in the media to damage their image,” the club’s statement said.

According to the club, police said they were concerned the event would “sow disunity in Thai society, and encourage people to break the law and stir up unrest.”

The government’s request marks the second time this month that Thai authorities have attempted to block events at the FCCT, which for years has hosted many controversial debates without interference. Two weeks ago, police ordered the club to cancel a discussion on the junta’s human rights violations. The FCCT complied, but the talk’s organizers, the Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, defied police and held a press conference outside the club’s doors.  

David Streckfuss, a Thailand-based scholar who was expected to sit on this week’s lese majeste panel, called the junta's cancellation a “worrying sign for Thailand’s future.”

“I don’t think anyone is surprised,” he told Khaosod English. “But it’s disappointing that the regime is still so paranoid about allowing discussions about basic rights and a topic that really needs discussion.”

Since the coup, nearly 50 people have been charged with lese majeste, and more than half of them have been denied bail while they await trial, according to iLaw, a watchdog group that tracks legal cases in Thailand.  Those who have been convicted have received harsh sentences, including a man who was sentenced to 25 years in prison for posting "defamatory" comments on Facebook.

After seizing power, junta leader and hard-line royalist Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha also granted military courts jurisdiction over lese majeste cases, citing the crime’s “threat to national security.”

Last month he suggested that critics of the monarchy are plotting to overthrow the institution. 

"People who insult the monarchy right now may not be great in number, but they belong to a movement of people who want power and seek personal gain," he said in a speech in May. "There are only two things that they want to control, but they cannot do so: the military and the monarchy." 

King Bhumibol, 87,  is widely revered as a demi-god in Thailand, where he has sat on the throne for more than half a century. He is currently being treated for poor health in a hospital in Bangkok, a cause of anxiety for many Thais who have never lived under another monarch. 

For the past year, the military government has unsuccessfully sought to extradite lese majeste suspects who have fled abroad. The government says 31 people charged with lese majeste are currently living in exile, with 14 of them residing in neighboring Laos. 

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