|
The Blue Diamond Affair is an ongoing saga of unsolved crimes and embittered diplomatic relations triggered by the 1989 theft of gems belonging to the House of Saud by a Thai employee. The affair has soured relations between Saudi Arabia and Thailand for more than 20 years. ==Theft and recovery== In 1989, Kriangkrai Techamong, a Thai worker, stole jewellery and other valuable gems from the palace of Prince Faisal bin Fahd, where he was employed as a janitor. Kriangkrai had access to the prince's bedroom and hid the stolen jewellery in a vacuum cleaner bag at the palace. It included a valuable blue diamond and other gems, which Kriangkrai shipped back to his home in Lampang Province, Thailand. An investigation launched by a team from the Royal Thai Police, headed by Lieutenant-General Chalor Kerdthes, led to the arrest of Kriangkrai and recovery of most of the stolen jewellery. Kriangkai was sentenced to seven years in prison, but he was released after three years because he confessed to the crime. The team of Royal Thai policemen under Lieutenant-General Chalor flew to Saudi Arabia to return the stolen jewellery, but the Saudi Arabian authorities discovered that about half of it was fake and the blue diamond was missing.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.unofficialroyalty.com/the-blue-diamond-affair/ )〕 Mohammad al-Ruwaili, a Saudi Arabian businessman close to the Saudi royal family, travelled to Bangkok to investigate, but he was abducted and murdered. Days earlier, three officials from the Saudi Embassy had been shot dead in Bangkok. The murders remain unsolved, and no connection to the jewelry theft has been established despite the Saudi government's view "...that the Thai government had not done enough to resolve the mystery surrounding Al-Ruwaili's assassination and that of three other Saudi diplomats,..."〔 Lieutenant-General Chalor was later charged and convicted of ordering the 1995 murder of the wife and son of a gem dealer involved in the affair, and was sentenced to death.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Thai cop convicted of Saudi gem theft )〕 The supreme court upheld the ruling and sentenced Lieutenant-General Chalor to death on 16 October 2009. Six other policemen were also found guilty of involvement in the murders. However, Chalor's sentence was reduced to fifty years imprisonment by King Bhumibol Adulyadej on his 84th birthday. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Blue Diamond Affair」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|