He said he would begin his “retirement” from Facebook, Twitter and other social media on his 69th birthday on Sunday, April 2. “I will live most of the time at my vacation home in Pak Chong Valley.”

He wrote that he wished to thank all of his friends who have been visiting his page and chatting with him through good and bad times.

“I’ll still be around, but not so loud, at my personal website http://www.thaivision.com.”

However, it appeared that his Facebook page and Twitter had already been deactivated before the April deadline as his page and Twitter account were unavailable yesterday.

Somkiat is one of the veteran journalists in Thailand who have embraced modern media technology and social networking. He has been active on social networks, particularly Facebook, writing opinions on many issues with an emphasis on media ethics and international issues. Lately, his comments have focused on the Trump administration in the United States.

His announcement came a week after an apparent blunder when he wrote on Twitter criticising the Post Today newspaper website for publishing obscene photos and saying the paper did not have ethics. The comments referred to photos he saw while he was reading a news story on the Post Today’s online version.

“Reading newspapers nowadays is like reading porno books. The newspaper industry is now at its lowest point because the advertising money makes them ignore social morality.”

However, the photos came from Google AdSense, an advertising placement service, and were not connected directly to the paper itself. As Twitter users tried to explain the mistake and point out the misplaced criticism of the newspaper to Somkiat, he seemed to ignore them.

Google AdSense is designed for webmasters who want to display targeted text, video or image advertisements on websites, which then earn money when visitors view or click on the ads.

While the social media guru did not acknowledge the error in announcing his retirement, other savvy social media users wondered whether the failure to compute might have resulted in system |shutdown.

Veera plans to take a group of the media to visit the site on Wednesday to prove whether or not the Cambodian casino is actually in an overlapping area.

He had questioned in previous Facebook posts why the military had allowed this to happen.

Maj-General Suthin Benjavilankul, the Region’s spokesman, said the troops would be sent to prevent the problem arising between Thailand and Cambodia.

Suthin said military officers from the two countries had actually jointly surveyed the territory and had the same understanding.

The senior officer said that, based on a Thai map with a ratio of 1:50,000, it is clear that the casino is not in Thai territory or even overlapping.

Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai also insisted on Tuesday that the casino near Burirum province is not in an overlapping area, nor in Thailand.

He said concerned authorities had academic proof, including maps, to prove the point.

Don said he hoped Veera would cancel the site visit as a similar trip to examine overlapping territory between Thailand and Cambodia near Phrea Vihear caused problems.

Asked whether Veera’s trip would hurt the relationship between the two countries, Don said it was a case of “wait and see”.

Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Gen. Wongsuwan had said that the submarine purchase would definitely be put in front of the Cabinet, though there was no timeline given.

It was speculated that proposal might have been made yesterday as the Budget Bureau required all governmental agencies to make a budget proposal no more than a billion baht by this month. The submarine’s first installment is expected to cost Bt800 million.

The total purchase would cost Bt36 billion for three Yuan Class S26 T submarines. The vessels each costs Bt18 billion but Thailand has been granted a “buy two get three” deal from China, with a weapons system and after-sales services.

Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha yesterday said that the Bt36-billion deal is a “friendly price”.

“This is a long-term plan and I will proceed accordingly,” the prime minister said.

The deal for the used submarines has been pursued for some time. Two attempts have been made to buy vessels in the past. In 1995 Thailand pursued a Swedish Gotland submarine and in 2011 it sought a German 206A-class vessel. Both deals failed.

The current junta revitalized the submarine plan, taking deals from six countries into consideration, and eventually chose China, which promised that services such as equipment, training and port building would be provided together with the purchase.

Earlier this month, Prawit brought military chiefs to see submarine maintenance center, set up for future submarines, in the Naval Dockyard Department in Chonburi.

The visit brought public attention that updates on the proposal for the giant vessels might come soon.

However, Prawit said yesterday that the submarine issue still lingered at his ministry.

Provincial Police Region 5 chief, Pol Lieutenant-General Pulsap Prasertsak, announced in Chiang Mai on Tuesday that the five cases stemmed from police operations carried out between Monday of last week and Sunday.

In the first case, four young male Hmong suspects were arrested and 660,000 yaba pills seized on Thursday night at a police checkpoint in Phrae’s Wang Chin district.

The gang reportedly tried to divert police’s attention by having a gang member ride a motorcycle ahead to speed away from the checkpoint so police would give chase and ignore the gang’s pickup truck that was carrying the drugs.

However, police didn’t fall for the trick and intercepted the truck with its illicit load.

In the second drug bust last Wednesday, police seized 600 Yaba pills and 2.2 kg of heroin from two male suspects on a motorcycle as they tried to pass through Tambon Mae Salong in Chiang Rai’s Mae Fa Luang district. However, the suspects fled.

In the third case on Thursday, officers arrested two male suspects in their 20s along with 34kg of raw opium hidden in a car in Chiang Rai’s Wiang Pa Pao district as they tried to smuggle it to deliver a customer in Chiang Mai, Pulsap said.

On Saturday, police nabbed to two male suspects along with 13.7kg of raw opium at a checkpoint in Mae Hong Son’s Pang Mapha district.

In the fifth case, also on Saturday, police and soldiers seized 100,000 yaba pills from five people who were crossing the Thai-Myanmar border into Tambon Wiang Pang Kham of Chaing Rai’s Mae Sai district.

A clash that ensued resulted in the extrajudicial killing of one unnamed male suspect while another unnamed male suspect was burned to death.

Chalermchai said locals made a living near the casino and Veera’s visit could make them feel uncomfortable and lead to a confrontation.

In 2009, Veera led a group to try and prove the area overlapped between Thailand and Cambodia near Phrea Vihear, leading to a skirmish between his group and the locals, the Army chief said.

He wants Veera to think twice about the trip and not use it for personal gain, as the boundary issue was sensitive.

He said Veera should proceed with the case using legal means.

On Monday, Deputy Prime Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan had said he would not be responsible if anything unfortunate happened to Veera.

Prawit said it was a personal decision for Veera to arrange the media inspection and if any unfortunate incident happened to him, including being arrested by Cambodian authorities, he must take care of himself.

The opening of the new casino came under the spotlight after Veera claimed in Facebook posts that it was located in the overlapping border area between Thailand and Cambodia, as well as possibly being located in Ta Phraya National Park, which forms part of a World Heritage site.

Veera questioned why the military government had allowed this to happen, and suspected that a post he made on the issue had led to a warrant being issued for his arrest over a week ago for violation of the Computer Crime Act.