Wiraphon, 38, was arrested in the US last year at the request of Thailand’s Office of the Attorney-General as he is wanted in Thailand on charges of fraud, sexual harassment against a juvenile, and money laundering of about Bt40 million.

He is due to arrive at Suvarnabhumi Airport at about 10pm.

A team of Thai officers was sent to the US to escort him back to face prosecution in the Kingdom after American authorities informed the Office of the Attorney-General of the extradition ruling.

They travelled to the US even before they knew whether or not Wiraphon would appeal. Wiraphon, who has reportedly been out of the monkhood since his arrest, has been in jail since a US court denied a bail request.

Before fleeing Thailand, the then monk was known for his extravagant lifestyle, including his use of brand-name products and travelling by private jets, despite the fact that he was still in the monkhood. A video clip released in 2013 showed him travelling by personal jet, carrying a Louis Vuitton bag and wearing brand-name sunglasses.

He was a former head of Wat Pakhantitham forest monastery in Si Sa Ket province.

He was praised by his followers as a devout monk and helped earn popularity for the monastery.

However, a series of his alleged notorious behaviour was revealed later.

Another clip, showing a man who looked like Wiraphon and a woman having sex, went viral. He maintained that the man on the video was his brother. A woman has claimed in Si Sa Ket court that Wiraphon had fathered her child and she was ready to have a DNA test to back up her claim.

She filed for compensation of Bt40 million from him.

He reportedly fled to France and eventually to the US after a series of scandals and allegations and his jet-setting lifestyles were revealed. His stories caught the attention of some foreign news agencies.

And when he fled to the US, he posted photos with luxurious houses and cars while wearing his yellow robes.

In the US, he was said to have been residing at Kantibaramee monastery in San Diego, California.

During the DSI’s moves to indict him, about Bt2 billion in his bank accounts as well as some plots of land and houses, were seized pending trial.

According to procedure, when Wiraphon returns to Thailand, officials from the Department of Special Investigation will detain him before notifying him of all charges and then question him. He will be handed over to public prosecutors of the Special Litigation Department who will submit the case for consideration.

The Natural Resources and Environment Ministry on Monday arranged a series of public hearings for the new bill, although activists say that the sessions are not enough to reflect the opinions of all affected people.

They also warned that unless the law is well drafted, the problems of enforcing environmental law such as the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) would remain and even get worse.

Supaporn Malailoi, the manager of Environmental Litigation and Advocacy for the Wants (EnLAW) Foundation, said the overall hearing process was not enough to ensure perfect legislation for the people.

“From what we have seen, in efforts to gather public opinion for the new bill, we have found that the authorities are not sincere in giving a clear understanding about the new law and listening to what people think,” Supaporn said.

“This is very obvious since the Environment Ministry only left half a day for public hearings, while their online public hearing also barred many people in the rural areas, who cannot access to the internet to raise their opinion.”

She stressed that since the law will be used as the main legal tool for environmental protection, the ministry should clearly break down the new law so that everyone can understand it easily and compare it to the old one to compare their strengths and weaknesses.

“This is a very important thing to do for a proper public hearing. There are many big flaws in the section about EIA in the new bill, as many problematic issues with the current version, are still not fixed,” Supaporn said.

“The imperfect law will still cause conflicts over projects that impact the environment, and the history of people’s struggle against the harmful project will continue.”

Natural Resources and Environment Ministry permanent secretary Wijarn Simachaya said the public hearing on the new bill was proper and aligned with Article 77 of the current Constitution.

“We have already concluded the online public hearing period of around 20 days for this bill in May, but we noticed that there were many comments about the bill, so we opened another round of public hearings at the forum on Monday,” Wijarn explained.

“The outcome of the public hearing is good. The participants were all eager to raise their voices. This can be an assurance that the public hearing is proper.”

He also said that the new bill would include improvements in the EIA process, the creation of an environmental fund to subsidise operations to clean up the environment or reward agencies with good environmental practices, and the setting up of a new environmental quality standard.

He said anyone who still wants to express their opinion about this bill can do so by presenting their comment to the ministry by next week, or they can send their view directly to the Council of State Office.

After the ministry finishes gathering comments they will be passed on to the Cabinet for consideration. The bill is scheduled to become law this November.

“At this point, the investigation is already more than 80 per cent complete. But we will definitely dig deeper and gather further evidence to ensure no culprits go unpunished,” Deputy National Police Commission Pol General Suthep Dejraksa said yesterday in his capacity as head of the investigation team.

He spoke up after questions began to emerge as to whether the alleged mastermind, Surifath “Bang Fath” Bannoppawon-gsakul, could really run mortgage services on his own.

Land disputes

Surifath, who is now in custody, has reportedly confessed that he shot Worayuth Sunglung, a village head in Krabi’s Ao Luk district, and family members on July 10 over a serious land and money dispute.

The ongoing investigation revealed that Worayuth mortgaged some land plots to Surifath several years ago.

The village head later repaid the loans but Surifath failed to return land-title deeds for the plots.

The suspected mastermind claims Worayuth got so angry and threatened to harm him. About 10 suspects have been detained and interrogated in the inquiry.

The shootings inside Worayuth’s home caused eight deaths and injured three people, and rumours have emerged concerning a politician.

“If convincing evidence implicates anyone else, we will definitely take action,” Suthep said.

He was citing a report from the Royal Thai Embassy in Kuala Lumpur that the Malaysian Immigration Department had launched a crackdown on foreign workers with no work permits and their employers.

This was after the June 30 expiry of the E-kad Malaysia (enforcement card) programme’s rehiring scheme, which gave illegal foreign workers a chance to come forward and legalise their employment with valid employers in order to meet labour demands in specific sectors.

Between July 1 and 10, the officers arrested 3,014 illegal foreign workers, 111 of whom were Thai, and had begun legal action against 57 employers,

Waranon warned that searches and arrests of illegal workers would continue, so Thais currently working in Malaysia should obtain proper papers.

He warned that Thais must proceed as per the requirements of Malaysian law. Those charged with illegal entry to Malaysia will face up to 10,000 ringgits (Bt78,400) in fines and/or up to five years in jail, plus six strikes of the cane. Those working illegally there will face up to five years in jail and/or 2,100-3,000 ringgits in fines based on the visa-overstaying period, he added.

Xidong Wang, 20, and Weijie Liu, 21, were on holiday in Phuket with another friend, Weijie Liu. Both men reportedly ignored the red flags and warning signs placed at the beach.

Liu called authorities for help when he couldn’t find his friends after they entered the water.

Rescue workers and lifeguards spent two days searching for them, until they were finally located about 500 meters from Tri Trang Beach.

Lifeguards took the bodies to Patong Hospital for a post-mortem examination. Their families also arrived in Phuket and will repatriate their remains to China.

Governor Norraphat Plodthong held a meeting at Phuket Provincial Hall with Patong Police officers and Patong Mayor Chalermluk Kebsup yesterday afternoon.

“The sloping road of Patong Hill has been a chronic cause of accidents and injuries. We have discussed this issue long and hard in order to find a solution, at least for the short term. So, we have decided to build a checkpoint to examine drivers’ condition, check to see if they have a driving license, and conduct a breathalyzer test before allowing them to drive up the hill,” said Gov Norraphat.

The Department of Land Transport (DLT) will be responsible for coming up with a plan and to find a suitable location for the checkpoint.

“The DLT will also be responsible for maintaining the condition of the road from Kathu to Patong Hill, to ensure that it is not slippery and to install warning and traffic signs,” he added.

The Gov also noted that officials were getting ready to move forward with a long-term solution – the ‘Patong Tunnel’ – which has long been discussed, but is still in the planning phase.

The “Health Robotics” device, which will be used from August, will boost the efficiency and accuracy in medicine mixing, is part of the hospital’s strategy to respond to the country’s ‘Healthcare 4.0’ policy.

It will relieve hospital personnel from having to perform the duty and aid the public hospital to achieve its aim of being a centre for cancer medicine distribution to regional or private hospitals, said the head of the hospital’s pharmacy department, Jirawat Suwannakij.

He said the hospital served as a centre for cancer treatments to people in Phitsanulok and nearby provinces and each day pharmacists produced about 120 to 200 dosages of cancer drugs.

The Italian-made robot, with a capacity to produce up to 40 dosages per hour would be a big help, he said.

Songkhla’s Hat Yai Hospital is reportedly in a process installing a similar device.

The five men – identified as Pana Chaikhong, 38, Boontham Chaichana, 52, Khomsan KIjthaworn-archeep, 30, Uthai Chaichana, 48, and Meechai Klanprasom were arrested at half past midnight at a petrol station in Tambon Sa Kwan, Muang Sa Kaew. Officers seized three grenade-launchers and three 82mm grenades.

The suspects, who are facing charges of possessing war weapons and carrying them on a public road, told police that they smuggled the weapons from Cambodia via a border entry point at Ban Pai Khieo in Sa Kaew’s Tambon Thab Prik.

The vaccine will be given in two dosages, six months apart, to schoolgirls from Bangkok schools, including equivalent level pupils at private or international schools.

The project is a collaboration between the DDC, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA)’s Health Department, the National Health Security Office (NHSO)’s 13th branch office.

About 400,000 Prathom 5 schoolgirls nationwide will receive the first shot of HPV vaccine also in August in a bid to prevent cervical cancer, the second most common cause of death by illness in Thai women, he said.

Thailand had about 6,000 new cases of cervical cancer per year and the death rate was about 3,000 a year, he added.

BMA’s Health Department deputy chief Dr Wongwat Liewlak said the vaccine is safe and many schoolgirls in Bangkok had received the HPV vaccines in the past two years and they did not develop any serious side effects.

The comments were made during a workshop held at Miracle Grand Convention Hotel in Bangkok for concerned school directors and teachers to understand the project.

Prathom 5 girls, aged 11-12, were deemed the most suitable group for HPV vaccination as per the World Health Organisation recommendation.

The vaccine would protect against the two high-risk HPV types (types 16 and 18), which caused 70 per cent of cervical cancer in women.

From January 1 to July 9, Chiang Mai had 761 dengue fever patients, with the average prevalence rate of 40.77 per 100,000 population.

The province is ranked 17th in the nation in terms of the number of dengue patients, and third (following Nan and Mae Hong Son) in Public Health Region 1, Dr Waranyu Jamnongprasartporn said.

So far a 75-year-old man in Fang district was confirmed to have succumbed to the disease, while the deaths of a 22-year-old man in Doi Tao and a 10-year-old girl in Muang district were still being investigated through lab tests, he said.

Among Chiang Mai’s 23 districts, the five with the highest prevalence rates were Chom Thong (144.26 per 100,000 population), Wiang Haeng (115.46 per 100,000), Mae Ai (107.61), Doi Lor (65.31) and Mae Wang (49.07), he said. Only Samoeng and Kalayaniwattana districts had no reports of dengue fever patients.