National Police Commissioner Pol General Chaktip Chaijinda turned up at the 1st Infantry Battalion of the 15th Infantry regiment in Krabi’s Khlong Tom district himself to take custody of the suspects, which includes a woman.

The ongoing investigation suggests Surifath “Bang Fath” Bannopwongsakul led the alleged accomplices in the raid on the home of Krabi village head Worayuth Sunglung on July 10, killing him as well as seven other family members. Three other victims in the house survived the attack.

The arrests took place last week.

All suspects were transferred to Muang Krabi Police Station amid tight security. More than 500 policemen were mobilised as suspects re-enacted the crimes.

The students, accompanied by teachers and Office of the Basic Education Commission (Obec) deputy chief Suchitra Pattanaphum, arrived at Suvarnabhumi Airport at 10pm on Thursday and were warmly welcomed and congratulated by their parents and teachers.

Besides the Suteetorn School’s team of four, invited directly by the organisers, Obec sent three other teams to the contest, Obec’s Bureau of Educational Innovation Development head Nitwadee Charoenkiatboworn said. Besides the 34 medals the 16 Thai students pocketed from 19 contest categories, the Suteetorn School team also won the cultural performance award, she said.

The contest brought together 36 teams from Thailand, China, Taiwan, South Africa, Bulgaria, Macau, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Mongolia, the US, and Australia.

Bang Fath, or Surifath Bannoppawongsakul, is now in police custody for the massacre on July 10 at the house of Worayuth Sunglung, a village head, in Krabi. The two fell out after Surifath refused to return land-title deeds used to secure a loan from him, even after full repayment.

Dang Samdang, an uncle of Surifath, said on Thursday that he was about to lose his land plot because of his younger relative.

“He took both my money and my land plot,” the 66-year-old man with physical disability said.

He said a bank had notified him three months ago that it would seize the land plot on which he and five other relative families were now living, because of Surifath’s transaction.

“I allowed my son-in-law to offer this land plot to Surifath as collateral for a loan from him because I trusted that he would never cheat me. But I was wrong,” Dang lamented.

Dang’s son-in-law, Prasert Boonkasem, said the tittle deed for the plot was given to Surifath as collateral in 2012 for a Bt420,000 loan.

“Because I defaulted on the payments in some months, I agreed to sign a Bt800,000 loan contract in 2015 based on a promise that interest would not be increased,” Prasert said.

He said although he had repaid Surifath every month via bank transfers, he found out that Prasert had allegedly already mortgaged the land plot to a bank.

Anyarat Benhaphan, an official at Krabi’s Justice office, said relevant authorities would try to help Surifath’s victims.

“We have received a report that more than 10 victims were duped into transferring ownership of their land plots to him,” she said.

The convictions demonstrated Thailand’s willingness to hold to account government officials who committed these heinous crimes, said US Embassy spokesperson Steve Castonguay.

“We hope the case will catalyse further systemic changes by the Thai government to eliminate human trafficking,” he said.

The US State Department put Thailand on the Tier 2 Watch List of the 2017 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report because of inadequate efforts to solve the problem. The country was graded at the lowest Tier 3 in 2014 and 2015 when the case first surfaced.

A massive purge of human trafficking syndicates took place in 2015 following the discovery of a grave containing 36 bodies in a jungle shelter in the border district of Sadao, used by traffickers to hide and shelter mostly Rohingya victims from Myanmar and Bangladesh.

The suspected traffickers likely had influential backing as Paween Pongsirin, a senior investigator in the case, was forced to seek asylum in Australia during the investigation in late 2015.

“One of the main issues in the TIP report … was the traffickers who were not brought to justice. This trial will show that we are on the right track to suppress human trafficking, which will benefit our TIP Report ranking next year,” said Human Rights Commissioner Angkana Neelapaijit.

However, she cautioned that there was still improper treatment of victims in human trafficking cases, as many Rohingya were detained in the Social Development and Human Security Ministry’s facilities and they cannot find jobs, go to school, or be sent to other countries. “Rohingya human-trafficking victims are different from the other victim groups, because they do not have a home country to send them back. Myanmar does not recognise them as citizens and they are considered stateless persons,” Angkana said.

Rohingya human-trafficking victims still did not take advantage of help from international agencies such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and they were treated as offenders for illegally entering the Kingdom, not the victims of human trafficking, said Sunai Phasuk, Human Rights Watch’s senior researcher for Thailand.

“Large numbers of the Rohingya people are still detained on allegations of illegally entering the Kingdom. They are mistreated and cannot access proper help from international agencies,” he said.

The Thai government also needs to be serious about other human-trafficking groups, not only Rohingya; there are many kinds of human-trafficking activities such as sexual workers and in the fisheries industry, he said.

“I hope this trial will be the first step for more action in the other cases,” he added.

While the verdicts mark a step forward for Thailand’s efforts to combat human trafficking, Fortify Rights said the authorities should reopen the investigation into the trafficking of tens of thousands of Rohingya and Bangladeshis from 2012 to 2015.

This trial did not go far enough to address the many years of horrific abuses perpetrated by human traffickers in Thailand, said executive director of Fortify Rights, Amy Smith.

“However, the trial was not without flaws – we noted threats against investigators and witnesses and documented the protracted detention of survivors,” Smith said in an email reply to The Nation.

“Thai authorities shouldn’t sweep undiscovered mass graves under the rug of this trial,” she said. “We documented a massive operation that trafficked tens of thousands of Rohingya during a three-year period. The loss of life was significantly more than the focus of this trial.”

From at least 2012 to 2015, transnational criminal syndicates and complicit Thai authorities held captive, at any given time, several thousand Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshi nationals in illicit “torture camps” in conditions of enslavement, depriving them of adequate food, water, and shelter, and beating and sometimes killing victims.

Alleged members of human-trafficking syndicates who preyed on Rohingya and others in Myanmar, Bangladesh, Thailand, and Malaysia have not been held to account, Fortify Rights said in a statement.

“We should engage people of all levels in research and development efforts,” Prayut said yesterday during the inauguration of an innovation fair in Bangkok.

He said some people had successfully modified engines to increase vehicle speed – but for illegal road racers.

“We should bring such people to the legal path. They have talents. Why don’t we guide them towards using their talents for legal activities instead?” Prayut suggested.

He said this approach should also be applied to other situations. For example, the Royal Thai Army’s Ordnance Department might consider recruiting illegal gun manufacturers to relevant and legitimate positions at its facilities. “If they have good skills with gun making, they may work well for authorities in the legal line of gun manufacturing,” he added.

Prayut said instead of arresting creative people on the wrong side of the law, it might be better to spur them into working for the country.

He emphasised that the very first prerequisite to innovation is to develop the people’s mindset.

“If we all pay attention to R&D, we will find solutions to increase income and more,” he said.

Prayut said Thai inventors, for example, might think of how to combine electric appliances to increase functionality and convenience.

“Check if there is a practical way to combine a fridge with an electric rice cooker. Or probably, we may combine a fridge with an electric water heater,” he said. Prayut also witnessed the signing of cooperation contracts between universities and companies interested in 12 technological innovations.

Under the contracts, the promising innovations will be developed further to increase commercial value.

The scheme’s budget has grown significantly from Bt46.48 billion in 2002 to Bt71.01 billion in 2016.

“Our subcommittee has found that the rising cost of the scheme is related to corruption involving civil servants, their family members, medical facilities, medical workers and drug firms,” NACC secretary-general Sansern Poljieak said yesterday. He said the NACC had set up a subcommittee to look into the scheme after receiving several corruption complaints.

Headed by NACC commissioner Preecha Lertkamolmart, the subcommittee has reviewed problems and planned solutions in collaboration with the Office of Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commis-sion, the Department of Special Investigation and the Comptroller-General’s Department.

According to the subcommittee, civil servants and their family members have gone to various hospitals to get free medicine beyond what they really needed, which then could be sold. The scheme involves free medical treatment.

In addition, doctors had deliberately dispensed more medicine than necessary to patients under the scheme to get more commissions or incentives from drug firms.

“We have thus recommended preventative measures to the Cabinet such as strict and rational drug use guidelines,” Sansern said.

A source said Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam had instructed the Public Health Ministry to consider the NACC recommendations in consultation with relevant authorities such as the Finance Ministry.

Lyu Fei, 36, and his 10-year-old son were both killed on July 10 when the tour bus they were travelling on flipped over in the curve at the bottom of Patong Hill. At least 22 others were injured in the crash.

Nipon Bannawat, deputy managing director of Indara Insurance Public Company Limited, and Supong Weerasilpchai, chief executive officer of Moh Moh Insurance Brokers Co Ltd, were both present when the compensation was handed to the victims’ family.

Nipon said that the image and reputation of Thai tourism was of utmost importance to their company, while Supong stated that they had ensured that the process and amount of compensation was fair to both parties.

Following the accident, Phuket Governor Norraphat Plodthong visited the injured tourists at hospital and also called relevant officers for a meeting to discuss potential solutions to the long series of fatal and near-fatal bus crashes on the notorious hill.

Two days ago, the governor announced plans to build a checkpoint to inspect the condition of cars and drivers on Patong Hill

The ‘Phuket Lifeguard Service’ posted an update of the incident on their Facebook page at about 1:30pm. It briefly read:

‘Another rescue at Patong Beach today. The lady is safe and on the way to hospital. Good job, Patong lifeguards.’

The lifeguard in question is Samat Rattanmat, who saw the tourist being washed away in the waves.

“She was choking, so I drove up there on a jet-ski. She very nearly drowned, but thankfully I was able to get there in time. She was later taken to Patong Hospital for treatment,” said Samat.

The victim was discharged the same afternoon. She came back to the beach with her family to thank Mr Samat for his timely action.

‘The lady returned to Patong Beach with her family to thank the lifeguard who saved her life. Good to see her with a big smile on her face,’ the Phuket Lifeguard Service posted on their Facebook page.

“We are keeping a close eye on tourists as this is the monsoon season and the waves and winds are very strong. Tourists must follow the signs warning them of danger and pay heed to the lifeguards’ instructions at all times for their own safety,” said Samat.

Earlier this week, the bodies of two Chinese tourists were found two days after they went swimming in a red-flagged zone at Freedom Beach.

The Muang Nonthaburi Police Station is determining whether the celebrities posted the images themselves or if others had done so.

Pol General Weerachai Songmetta, a national police chief adviser, presided over a meeting to discuss alcohol control measures at the Royal Thai Police headquarters in Bangkok on Thursday.

The names of four accused celebrities are DJ Davide Dorico, Sirin “Cris” Howang, Pongsak “Aof” Rattanaphong and Hansa “Nuclear” Jungwattanawong.

Police will also summon executives from the company linked to the alcohol brand for questioning.

The posts violated the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act, which bans people from advertising alcoholic drinks and from showing the names and logos of alcoholic drinks to promote them. Offenders face up to one year in prison, a Bt500,000 fine or both.