The incident occurred at a house in Bang Tao Soi 7 at about 5pm. A local woman, Kob, saw the snake making its way into her neighbor Surin Bilabdullah’s house, so she screamed loudly to get his attention.

Surin rushed out of the house with the intention of scaring the snake away with a stick, but when he saw how big it was, he called the community ‘snake master’ Ei Manabut for help.

Ei single-handedly managed to calm down the seven-kilogram serpent and place it on his shoulders, while Surin broadcast the whole incident live on Facebook.

Others, who had gathered around to watch the performance, also snapped photographs and videos.

Once the creature was calm, Ei put it inside a sack and released it into a nearby forest.

Surin had previously warned people about a king cobra that his brother had spotted in the area earlier this week.

In response to the controversy, the public has pointed the finger at several former finance ministers and senior tax officials who allegedly failed to act on Thaksin’s tax liability of more than Bt10 billion arising from sale of Shin Corp’s shares in 2006.

Korn told The Nation on Thursday he had done his best to ensure the tax collection before the legal deadline ended at the end of March 2012.

“When I was minister I ordered the head of the Revenue Department to collect income tax from Thaksin and when I was an opposition MP I warned the Revenue Department about the approaching expiration of the tax assessment’s deadline,” he said.

Following a report of the vandalism at Prathom 6 classroom at Ban Nong Moung Nong Tae School, police on Wednesday found piles of damaged books and other items strewn over the floor of the ransacked classroom.

Watercolours and school milk were poured onto computers and smeared all over the whiteboard.

The police probe identified the suspects as two local youths (whose names have been withheld due to their ages) who attend another school in the province’s Muang district.

The damaged school was unoccupied at the time of intrusion as staff were on a field trip.

The two schoolboys confessed to committing the offence for fun, saying they had nothing against the school.

When police informed the boys’ construction worker parents that the school had demanded Bt62,692 in compensation, the parents cried.

They said they were poor and the “naughty” boys committed the act without fully realising the consequence.

The parents asked for a lower compensation amount.

Si Sa Ket Children and Family Home head Chanthee Sommana sent officials to conduct a fact-finding probe to provide aid the parents as per the Child Protection Act.

Every year, many people in Thailand, young and old, fall victim to heatstroke. On average, as many as 32 people die of heatstroke each year.

The risk is particularly high during the peak summer months, when the mercury often soars above 40 degrees Celsius.

From March 1 to April 17 last year, 21 people succumbed to heatstroke. Of them, 13 died in public areas and two in vehicles.

Common symptoms of heatstroke are fatigue, loss of appetite, nausea, anxiety, headache, low-blood pressure, collapse and anhidrosis. Without timely help, heatstroke can prove fatal.

On Tuesday, a 56-year-old woman collapsed while queuing at a temple under the scorching sun in Udon Thani province.

“Although she was rushed to hospital, she succumbed,” Dong Yen Police Station’s deputy superintendent, Pol Lt-Colonel Chamlong Thabseekaeo, said.

An investigation revealed that the woman had travelled from Chaiyaphum province and waited in a queue for a long time until she felt sick and collapsed.

On the same day, a 77-year-old cyclist collapsed during his normal cycling routine in Nakhon Phanom province. Police said although he too was rushed to a nearby hospital, he passed away.

“We believe his death is related to heatstroke,” Pol Captain Chularat Apirom, a deputy inspector at the Muang Nakhon Phanom Police Station, said. She said relatives had already taken his body away for funeral services and they did not suspect any foul play.

The Disease Control Department has warned people to avoid going outdoors when the weather is very hot. People who need to carry out activities under the sun are advised to wear a hat or use an umbrella and also drink lots of water.

It is predicted that temperatures will soar as high as 43 degrees Celsius over the next seven |weeks.

The ministry’s permanent se-cretary, Dr Sopon Mekthon, recommended that people should drink two litres of water a day during summer to lower the risk of heatstroke.

Heatstroke poses a particular risk to children under five years of age, the elderly, people with chronic diseases, obese people, people who lack adequate rest and heavy drinkers.

CSD commander Pol Maj-General Sapphuang Suthin said they were hoping to find additional evidence, such as bloodstained clothes, in Dechathorn Mulsri’s apartment, on Soi Charansanidwong 65 in Bang Plat district.

Forensic officers collected samples from the room, which was said to be in a tidy condition, to look for evidence.

The apartment caretaker told police that Dechathorn had rented the room along with friends in 2015. Other tenants said it was frequented by visitors who often made noise.

The search related to the murder of student Thirapong Thitatharn, 24, who was fatally stabbed in his dormitory in Phetchaburi on February 25 after about 20 assailants burst into his room. He succumbed to the injuries on March 2.

Suthin said additional evidence from the scene of the attack had been submitted for DNA testing.

Investigators were checking if there were grounds for a claim by the victim’s family that three more individuals had been involved in the attack, he said.

Suthin said it was unlikely that any influential figure or group would try to pressure or intimidate the witnesses, in response to earlier speculation that the real perpetrators of the crime might be shielded from law enforcement.

The Supreme Court yesterday found the group guilty of an assembly of more than 10 people, sedition, offences regarding national security, and an offence violating the public peace during their protest in December 2007.

However, all of the activists walked free yesterday as the court handed them two years suspended sentence.

The 2007 action came as Jon and many other activists protested against the National Legislative Assembly, backed by the former junta, which had hastily passed many laws including the Internal Security Act to restrict people’s rights.

The assembly functioned as the legislative house after the 2006 coup toppled Thaksin Shinawatra’s government.“What I did in 2007 was meant to restore the legitimacy of the lawmaking process,” Jon told reporters after the court session yesterday. “Laws that restrict the basic rights of the people should not be passed in a rushed manner.

“It’s better to have representatives of the people make the law,” he said.

Asked if he would protest against the current National Legislative Assembly under the present-day junta, Jon said: “I am tied by the court’s verdict.”

Supinya said on her Facebook page that the ruling had legal implications regarding her position as a commissioner of the NBTC. Supinya added that she had asked the NBTC to suspend her duties pending an interpretation of the verdict.

“I respect the court’s verdict and accept its consequences,” she said. “As the court found me guilty, despite no punishment, the ruling might have some legal impact on my qualifications as a commissioner.

“If the NBTC’s legal department decides I am disqualified, I have to end my position completely. Otherwise I will resume work,” she said.

The other eight convicted activists in the case are Sawit Kaewwan, leader of State Railway of Thailand trade union; Sirichai Maingam, Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand’s trade union leader; Pichit Chaimongkol and Nasur Yeemah, former members of the New Politics Party; farmer Anirut Kaosanit; Amnart Palame, deputy secretary-general of the State Enterprise Worker Relations Confederation; Saree Ongsomwang, a member of National Reform Steering Council; and lawyer Pairoj Polphet.

THE REVENUE Department would send former premier Thaksin Shinawatra a citation to pay delinquent taxes on the 2006 sale of Shin Corp shares to Temasek Holdings of Singapore before the case’s legal deadline on March 31.

The fugitive former premier has the right to submit an appeal against this tax order within 30 days, Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam said yesterday.

This case is separate from the court order some years ago to seize Bt46 billion of the Bt73-billion proceeds from selling Shin Corp shares, he said.

The Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Political Office Holders had ruled then that the Shin Corp shares belonged to Thaksin but the former premier had used his son and daughter as nominees to hold the shares on his behalf while he held public office.

These shares were later sold at Bt49 apiece against the unit cost of Bt1 to Temasek, so there was still income tax owed by Thaksin on the capital gains.

However, Noppadon Pattama, a legal aide of Thaksin, claimed the sale of the shares was transacted through the Stock Exchange of Thailand hence the proceeds were exempt from income tax.

Wissanu said once the demand letter is served on Thaksin, the statute of limitations on this civil case would be automatically extended by 10 years.

This case should be judged by the court as setting a precedent since the government has the duty to attempt to collect back taxes even though it is not completely clear if the taxes are collectable, he said. Counter-lawsuits by Thaksin and his family cannot be ruled out but there is no need to issue special measures to protect tax officials, he said. The case is in a “grey” area so the court should have the final say, he said.

In 2015, the National Anti-Corruption Commission took legal action against four former senior officials of the Revenue Department for helping Thaksin and his children to avoid the taxes.

Later the Criminal Court sentenced these four officials to three years in jail.

Wissanu said the argument that sale of shares in the stock market was exempt from capital gains tax could be raised by the defence in court when the case goes to trial.

However, the Auditor-General’s Office has insisted that this stock sale had incurred a tax liability.

Tax officials have tried to collect about Bt12 billion from Panthongtae and Pinthongta, the son and daughter of Thaksin, but the efforts failed after a tax court ruled in 2010 that the two children do not have to pay taxes since the shares belonged to Thaksin.

Noppadon insisted that shares sold on the stock market do not have a tax liability. This regulation has been applied for many years so it could not be interpreted otherwise.

He said the issue in this case was not about the statute of limitations but the legal fact that the sale is not subject to income tax.

Prior to 2006, Thaksin had set up Ample Rich Investments to sell 329 million shares of Shin Corp to his two children at a price below the market price. In 2007, the Revenue Department initiated its first attempt to levy income taxes on the share sale.

“During the time I worked for a big private company, I often bought medicine from drug stores for Bt5 to Bt10 per set to treat muscle strain. By the time I was aware of its danger, it was too late, I had kidney failure at the age of 30,” recalled 45-year-old Thanapol, who is now president of the Friends of Kidney Disease Club.

Many pharmacies sell over-the-counter medicine sets involving several different medicines to treat common symptoms over the course of two to three days, which often include unnecessary antibiotics or other substances that can be harmful to the patient.

“Whenever I felt muscle strain, I would take this cheap and easy-to-buy medicine, which also later seemed to require a larger dosage, at up to four sets at a time, to get rid of my symptom,” he said. He later developed unusual swelling and was diagnosed as having Phase 3 kidney failure, which required hemodialysis treatment.

“I still sought other medicines besides those prescribed by my doctor because I wanted to be cured and I believed in the advertisements. I even bought those Bt12,000 to Bt25,000 medicines for use for three months,” he said. Despite his self-treatment, his kidney condition worsened to become the last phase of chronic renal failure, which doctors blamed on his use of over-the-counter medicine.

“I have been suffering to merely survive from the three times a week hemodialysis regime in the past decade,” he said. Thanapol underwent kidney transplant surgery 11 months ago and he now has to take immmuno-suppressant medication for the rest of his life.

“Beware of medicine, supplements and herbal products with exaggerated advertising, such as a kidney-detoxing and nourishing supplements that boasts a cure to renal failure patients without the need to get hemodialysis,” he said.

“Renal failure patients must take prescribed medicine. If you take over-the-counter pills due to advertisements and ignore your prescribed treatment, it could worsen your condition and you may die,” he said, adding that companies were making money by selling low-cost products for Bt7,000 to Bt25,000.

Another story about a 17-year-old young man was published by Medical Council of Thailand board member Dr Chanwalee Srisukho in October 2015. The teenager’s 45-year-old mother told Chanwalee that she had donated her kidney to the her son who suffered kidney failure after a year of prolonged and frequent use of medicine with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). He used the drugs to treat muscle strain but he died a year after surgery from complications.

Dr Chairat Chayakul, a kidney disease expert at Mahidol University’s Faculty of Medicine at Siriraj Hospital, said that 8 million Thais had chronic kidney disease and there were about 8,000 new cases every year. Most patients suffering from diabetes or high blood pressure can slow down kidney deterioration by controlling their diet, doing regular exercise and using medicine rationally, he said.

However, up to 10 per cent of patients do not follow doctors’ advice. “They believe taking a lot of medicine will affect their kidneys or they simply were bored of taking the prescribed medicines,” he added.

“We believe they will help us improve patients’ safety even further,” Dr Prof Prasit Watanapa, dean of Mahidol University’s Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, said yesterday. The hopital now serves between 8,000 and 10,000 outpatients daily. Each patient is prescribed more than one medicine on average.

The hospital’s director, Asst Prof Dr Visit Vamvanij, believed the huge number of patients and the many complicated cases the hospital handles were factors behind some inaccuracies in the medicine-dispensing process.

During a press conference where the robots were unveiled, Visit said the preparation of three in 1,000 prescriptions have had some errors.

“These inaccuracies have not affected patients because they are detected by our pharmacists prior to dispensing,” he said. “But we aim to achieve zero inaccuracy even during the preparation process. We believe robots are our answer.”

The automatic medicine-dispensing system was developed through a collaboration of the Thailand Centre of Excellence for Life Sciences, the Institute of FIeld RoBOtics (FIBO), and Supreme Hitera. “It’s an invention by Thais,” Prasit said.

Siriraj Hospital will be the first hospital to install the system.

“If the systems work fine at our facility, they should work fine elsewhere too,” Prasit added.

Visit said the systems might increase the expenses of the hospital, but they were worth implementing, as they promised to reduce accuracy and better protect patients.

Assoc Prof Dr Cherdchai Nopmaneejumruslers said the robots would be able to dispense 85 per cent of medicines and the remainder would be handled by staff.

“With the help of robots, we expect to complete each prescription within 15 minutes,” Cherdchai said.