Deputy Chief of the Natural Resource and Environmental Police (NE) Col Bancha Panpradab together with Maj Kitwarut Phutnuan, officers from the Forestry Department, Military Circle 41, Phuket Provincial Police, Tourist Police, a Koh Kaew village headman and local officials inspected the buildings on Koh Maphrao in Koh Kaew yesterday after officials received complaints that investor/s had bought the land without official land documents from local residents and built a resort.
Col Bancha explained: “We came to inspect the area because people had sent complaints to our office reporting that investors had bought a lot of land in Moo Baan Koh Maphrao without a land titles and no one ever visits the area to investigate.
“NE Police Commander Maj Gen Suthin Sabpwong and an expert from the Justice Court office who specialises in aerial photography, Mr Witoon Chalayonnawin, surveyed the area first by helicopter and confirmed there are structures in a hilly area surrounded by forest. Our patrol officers also discovered several resorts built to accommodate tourists when they visited the island,” he said.
Col Bancha pointed out,“When we arrived today we were greeted by Mr Adam from Switzerland who claimed he is caretaker of the resort. He showed us several documents, but they were mostly local land tax documents, not land titles.
“After carrying out a survey we discovered that the land, about 20 rai, is already marked with 18 pins which indicates the area is in the progress of requesting a permit. If the land is legally obtained it would be worth no more than B5 million per rai. There are already 14 villas on the land, and some units already have foreign occupants,” he said.
“We will not file any complaint against Mr Adam as he claims that to only take care of the place and is not the owner, but we will file encroachment and illegal structure charges against the person whose name is on the local tax documents that Mr Adam provided,” he added.