Acting on an anonymous tip-off, a special investigation unit comprising officers from the 13th Army circle and 3rd Naval Area Command at 9.15pm last night (December 11) raided an illegal excavation site next to the hill behind Wat Luangpusupa temple, next to the unfinished Klong Krata resevoir.
The raiding party confronted four men in the middle of excavating dirt from the hill, which already had about a “10- meter section of earth removed.”
The suspects were named as Mr Wacharin Sukjai, 30, of Nakhon Si Thammarat, who was operating the backhoe; Mr Kanit Sukjai, 27,of Nakhon Si Thammarat; Mr Somprach Chuthong, 46, of Nakhon Si Thammarat and Mr Panya Thaiying of Chumphon – the latter three of whom were caught operating the six-wheeler and ten-wheeler lorries.
Unable to present a valid permit for the excavation, the men were charged with “joining to excavate dirt without a permit”, and have provided authorities with the name of their contractor, Mr Wansak Ongsuntipap.