New haul linked to ex-CIB chief
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MOST OF the items found at an antique shop and in an apartment in northern Bangkok are imitations and the shop probably has no permit to sell them, a police commander said yesterday.
Police also found ivory items, artefacts, possibly illegally felled timber, antique Chinese and European furniture as well ancient Buddha images, said Sahabhum Bhumtitterat, director of the Office of National Museums who jointly inspected the items with the policemen.
The hoard was found at Sawong Antiques and Sawong Apartment, which are owned by Sawong Mungthiang and Rerngsak Saknarongdej, who police believe have connections with the former Central Investigation Bureau chief Lt-General Pongpat Chayaphan.
Pol Maj-General Prasobchok Phrommool, chief of the police’s Natural Resources And Environmental Crime Division, said these men would face three years in prison and/or a maximum fine of Bt300,000 if they are not able to produce permits for selling artefacts. Though most of the items found in the two locations were imitations, they did not include the nine items that cannot be reproduced under Thai law, Sahabhum said.The authorities are verifying these items and results should be known soon, he added.
Meanwhile, residents from Chiang Rai’s Chiang Khong district are calling on police to check out the Buddha images and amulets found in Pongpat’s 11 homes to see if they are part of the items stolen 36 years ago from a 700-year-old temple. Former kamnan Praphat Kaewta said one of the items most revered was a Buddha image called Phra Sing that went missing in a series of break-ins in 1978. Phra Sing is about 63 centimetres tall and 55cm wide.
