Locomotive found on Chinese suspect's compound not ours: SRT
The train found on the grounds of a Chinese national’s property in Pathum Thani is not related to the Thai-Chinese railway project, the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) clarified on Friday.
The statement came after immigration police raided the property in Pathum Thani’s Lam Luk Ka district after receiving a tip-off that a Chinese national was using a fake Thai ID.
The suspect, 33-year-old Shao Xiaobo, was arrested on Wednesday at a building he was renting in Bangkok.
Also found in the building was a China-made limousine with flags on its bonnet, a BMW police escort motorcycle, as well as a military and police uniform with the suspect’s name on it.
The following day, a police team led by Immigration Bureau’s deputy chief Pol Maj-General Phanthana Nuchanart raided the mansion but found nothing illegal other than an empty hidden cupboard and the locomotive.
Police said the mansion sported a logo of the Thai Merchant Association, which the suspect said he was an adviser to. However, investigators said the suspect’s name was not listed on the association’s board of directors.
He was, however, found to be linked to a luxury car import company called QY Group and an arms dealing firm called Global System, though both firms do not exist anymore.
The authorities will check to see if the suspect’s finances are linked to these companies and if his ownership of the 1-rai land (1,600 square metres) and the mansion on it is legal.
Police had initially sought a warrant from Thanyaburi Provincial Court to search the Lam Luk Ka mansion but the application was rejected.
However, officers stormed the mansion after stopping a pick-up truck driving out of the property carrying 40 bottles of contraband liquor. Police seized the liquor and arrested two men in the truck, a 30-year-old Thai and a 21-year-old foreigner.
Shao, meanwhile, was charged under an arrest warrant issued in Narathiwat’s Panare district for allegedly making a false statement for a fake ID card. The suspect was also reported as carrying Vanuatu and Chinese passports.
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