Officials backed by 100 troops, a mixture of Navy Marines and soldiers from the 41st Military Circle in Nakhon Sri Thammarat, are waiting now. So are three large excavators.
"We have come to check their land titles. If they believe they have a title they should prove it to us," Cdr. Pornprom Sakultem of the Royal Navy Third Naval Area Command told The Phuket News.
The owners of the businesses have been given two options:
- Agree to have the building removed. The military and the excavators will help, for free. Or they can do it themselves within seven days.
- Do nothing, in which case they will be checked for offences against the Forest Act, the Marine Act and the Planning and Building Act. Their tax records will also be checked. If they are found to have contravened any law, the building will be destroyed and they will have to pay the bill for it.
The clock is ticking.