Chon Buri Provincial Court suspended each prison sentence for one year and required the six young men to perform 12 hours of public service and to report to probation officers every three months.

One defendant who couldn’t afford to pay the fine was detained at the rate of Bt500 per day.

Another two men were found to have thrown water in plastic bags and were each fined Bt1,000 by police, while two minors were sent to a juvenile facility to be dealt with.

The charges against the six men were brought under the Criminal Code’s sections 389 and 397.

The first of these states: “Whoever causes a hard substance to fall on any place in a manner likely to cause harm, trouble or nuisance to a person or causes a filthy thing to dirty a person shall be punished with up to one month in prison and/or up to Bt10,000 in fines”.

Under Section 397 “whoever, in a public place, annoys or bullies another person, or causes the other person to be ashamed or troubled, shall be punished with up to one month in prison and/or up to Bt10,000 in fines”.

Muang Chon Buri police superintendent Pol Colonel Somchok Tapol said the severe punishments to these “reckless” Songkran revellers should serve as a cautionary tale for others whose actions damage the country’s tourism.