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Three brothers of ex-princess jailed

BANGKOK: The Phra Khanong provincial court today sentenced three brothers of former princess Thanpuying Srirasmi Suwadee to five years and six months in jail each for illegal detention, theft, lèse majesté and illegal possession of firearms.

crime
By Bangkok Post

Friday 20 March 2015 05:36 PM


Natthapol Suwadee, 29, centre, and two other members of the alleged criminal network of former Central Investigation Bureau chief Pongpat Chayapan, are taken to the Phra Khanong provincial court to hear a court verdict on Friday. Photo Somchai Poomlard/Bangkok Post

Natthapol Suwadee, 29, centre, and two other members of the alleged criminal network of former Central Investigation Bureau chief Pongpat Chayapan, are taken to the Phra Khanong provincial court to hear a court verdict on Friday. Photo Somchai Poomlard/Bangkok Post

Prison wardens took Natthapol Suwadee, 29, Narong Suwadee, 41, and Sitthisak Suwadee, 24, to the court to hear their sentences.

The three, all members of a criminal network run by Pol Lt Gen Pongpat Chayapan, the former Central Investigation Bureau chief, were initially given 11-year terms, but their sentences were halved because they had pleaded guilty.

The court ruled the defendants had forcibly taken a debtor at gunpoint from his house on Soi Sukhumvit 101 to their residence in Bangkok’s Thawi Wattana district in March 2014. There they cited the monarchy to force him to pay off the debts. They had illegally detained the debtor and had stolen his assets.

The prosecutors initially filed the suit against seven defendants in the case, but the other four accused — Sutthisak Sutthijit, Chakarn Pakphum, Witthaya Thetkhunthod and Chalat Porthirat — denied the charges. The court then decided to hear the prosecution charges in theri cases separately from the three brothers.

After the ruling, the three defendants were immediately taken back to prison to begin their terms behind bars.

See original story here.