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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 BANGKOK 000278 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/02/2020 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL SA TH
SUBJECT: THE CURSE OF THE BLUE DIAMOND: THAILAND INDICTS 
FIVE POLICEMEN TO SALVAGE RELATIONSHIP WITH SAUDI ARABIA 
 
BANGKOK 00000278  001.2 OF 004 
 
 
Classified By: DCM James F. Entwistle, Reasons 1.4(b) and (d) 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: In the latest chapter of a two decade-long 
saga which has long soured Thai-Saudi relations, the Royal 
Thai Government (RTG) Office of the Attorney General on 
January 12 indicted five police officers in connection with 
the 1990 murder of a Saudi Arabian businessman with family 
ties to the Saudi royal family, just weeks before the 
expiration of the 20-year statute of limitations.  In 1989, a 
Thai worker in the Saudi Arabian royal palace stole a large 
quantity of jewelry and smuggled it back to Thailand, 
including a 50-carat blue diamond.  The graft, murders, and 
kidnappings that followed this incident resulted in a rift in 
the Saudi-Thai relationship that has lasted to the present 
day, compounded by the murder of four Saudi diplomats in 
1989-1990 in circumstances never clearly explained publicly. 
In their effort to respond to Saudi demands for justice, the 
RTG seeks to hold senior members of the Royal Thai Police 
(RTP) accountable for their part in the drama and, in doing 
so, normalize relations with Saudi Arabia and possibly reap 
economic benefits through expanded trade and investment with 
gulf states. 
 
¶2. (C) Comment: Tales of intrigue, theft, kidnapping, murder, 
police misconduct, economic interests, and sectarian feuds, 
mixed in with possible ties to royal families in two 
kingdoms, are rich material for writers and conspiracy 
theorists, but not always conducive to effective and 
transparent investigation, let alone justice.  The Thai media 
has persisted in mixing up the strands of the jewelry theft 
story with the separate story of the Saudi diplomat murders, 
which almost certainly were part of a Saudi feud with 
Hezbollah.  Even linkages between the initial 1989 jewelry 
theft and later murders of the Saudi businessman in 1990 and 
family mem3e=[!zntability in Thailand 
for crimes committed by those in authority, in this case the 
police.  The moves could also help normalize Thai-Saudi 
relations, but may not be enough.  According to the Saudi 
Charge to Thailand, King Abdullah assured him that he would 
elevate the Charge to Ambassador -- thereby restoring normal 
diplomatic ties between the two countries -- provided the 
Charge could make progress on the businessman murder and 
jewelry theft cases.  At the moment, there is progress on the 
former, but not on the latter.  END SUMMARY AND COMMENT 
 
A CURSED DIAMOND CORRUPTS POLICE AND JUDGES... 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶4. (SBU) In 1989, Kriangkrai Techamong, a Thai working in the 
palace of Prince Faisal (son of then-King Fahd) in Riyadh, 
stole an estimated 200 pounds of jewelry worth approximately 
$20 million from the palace and smuggled it back into 
Thailand.  Among the jewels was a 50-carat blue diamond, a 
prized possession of the Saudi royal family.  Kriangkrai was 
ultimately convicted of theft in Thailand in 1990, and 
received a five-year sentence (he served almost three, before 
being released in 1994). 
 
¶5. (SBU) In the course of the investigation of the theft, 
sale, and dispersal of the jewelry, the wife and child of 
Santi Sithanakhan, a jewel trader involved in the case, were 
kidnapped, held hostage, and ultimately killed in 1994.  The 
Bangkok Criminal Court found a group led by Royal Thai Police 
(RTP) officers guilty in 2002; the police allegedly kidnapped 
the family members in order to pressure Santi to reveal 
information about what happened to the jewels.  The police 
gang had demanded a ransom of several million baht but killed 
the hostages after receiving the ransom payment to cover up 
 
BANGKOK 00000278  002.2 OF 004 
 
 
their illicit behavior. 
 
¶6. (SBU) During the subsequent prosecution of the kidnappers, 
two judges, one from the appeals court and one from the 
supreme court, attempted to extort millions of baht from the 
ringleader of the kidnapping plot, RTP Lieutenant General 
Chalo Koetthet.  Both judges were charged with corruption and 
fired in 2001.  After the original 2002 conviction was 
appealed, the Appeals Court implemented much stricter 
sentencing in 2004, including a death sentence for the 
ringleader, LTG Chalo.  The Supreme Court upheld the death 
sentence in October 2009, as well as sentences of varying 
degrees of severity for the accomplices.  While some of the 
defendants have been acquitted, or had the charges dismissed 
against them as the case worked its way through the judicial 
system, at least one of the accused has died in prison.  Many 
superstitious Thai citizens theorized that the Blue Diamond 
was cursed. 
 
...AND A SAUDI BUSINESSMAN DISAPPEARS... 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) In February 1990, another presumed victim in this 
tangle of intrigue, Saudi Arabian businessman Mohammad 
Al-Ruwaily, went missing in Thailand.  A group of policemen, 
led by now RTP Lieutenant General Somkhit Boonthanom, were 
initially arrested in the Al-Ruwaily case, though the Office 
of the Attorney General (OAG) dismissed the case against 
them.  In 2009, the Abhisit government directed the 
Department of Special Investigations (DSI) to reopen the 
investigation, and on January 12 DSI and the OAG announced 
the indictments of five police officers, including LTG 
Somkhit, on abduction and murder charges, for beating and 
killing Al-Ruwaily. 
 
¶8. (C) Saudi Arabian Charge to Thailand Nabil Ashri told the 
Naval Attache at a January 27 dinner that he had been 
personally instructed by Saudi Arabian King Abdullah to make 
progress on the Al-Ruwaily case, as well as the jewelry 
theft.  According to Nabil, during an audience with King 
Abdullah, the King had assured him that he would "make him an 
Ambassador if he made progress on this." 
 
...MEANWHILE SAUDI DIPLOMATS WERE DYING 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶9. (C) Even before the jewelry theft and dispersal was 
devolving into a morass of corruption, extortion and murder, 
a Saudi Arabian diplomat was killed in Bangkok in January 
1989; and another three were killed in February 1990, close 
in time to the Al-Ruwaily murder.  Thai authorities initially 
arrested Thai Muslim businessmen and charged them with the 
diplomat murders, only to have the Supreme Court dismiss the 
charges against the defendants.  In the 20 years since, Thai 
media have routinely conflated the jewelry theft case story 
lines with the four diplomat murders, though a January 16 
Bangkok Post expose on the tangled tale of Thai-Saudi 
relations did mention that the Department of Special 
Investigation (DSI) "has now concluded the murder of the 
diplomats was linked to sectarian disputes." 
 
¶10. (C) During a January 15 lunch with visiting Assistant 
Secretary for Political-Military Affairs Andrew Shapiro, Dr. 
Panitan Wattanayagorn, Deputy Secretary General for Prime 
Minister Abhisit and Acting RTG Spokesman, was more emphatic 
in delinking the various Saudi-Thai cases.  Panitan stated 
that it was commonly accepted by Thai security and 
intelligence officials that the four Saudi diplomats had been 
killed by Hezbollah, supposedly in retribution for bungled 
attempts by the Saudi government to assassinate Hezbollah 
operatives.  Panitan said there was no clear reason why this 
information had not been made public in the face of media 
confusion, other than that the RTG had been cautious about 
the association with Hezbollah and Iran. 
 
BANGKOK 00000278  003.2 OF 004 
 
 
 
DOES FOREIGN POLICY LEAD TO POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY? 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
¶11. (SBU) The January 12 indictments triggered positive 
responses from both human rights advocates and the Royal 
Embassy of Saudi Arabia.  Veteran human rights attorney 
Thongbai Thongpao, who successfully represented both 
defendants in the Saudi diplomat killings cases, told us he 
believes that this indictment will encourage the RTP to 
respect better the rule of law.  Despite the lengthy period 
of inaction on the case, he emphasized to us that it was 
standard operating procedure to reopen proceedings if new 
evidence or witnesses emerged.  Similarly, human rights 
lawyer Wibun Ingkhakun told us he believed that DSI and OAG 
had discovered sufficient new evidence to revive the case. 
While he did not see a hidden domestic political agenda 
behind the indictments, he did acknowledge to us the role 
played by Saudi Arabian pressure. 
 
¶12. (SBU) A press release from the Saudi Arabian Embassy in 
Bangkok praised the RTG efforts and stated that Saudi Arabia 
"has been waiting for this day for almost 20 years." While 
enthusiastic in tone, it sounded a cautious note, in 
expressing "hope that Thai authorities will maintain these 
efforts and momentum on the two other cases which are equally 
important." 
 
¶13. (C) However, Suepsakul Common, MFA Director in the 
Department of Middle East and African Affairs (and previously 
a Saudi Arabia desk officer for six years) told us that 
despite the press release, the Mohammad Al-Ruwaily case was 
the only truly pending case.  While there has been no 
conviction in the cases of the murdered diplomats, he 
believed both nations agree that those murders were the 
result of "conflict in the Middle East" and not a result of 
Thai actions.  Therefore, while the Saudis want Thai 
authorities to continue to gather evidence in these cases, 
they recognize the complications that the RTG faces in doing 
so, according to Suepsakul. 
 
A NEW BEGINNING? 
---------------- 
 
¶14. (C) Panitan from the PM's office emphasized the 
importance of resolving the Saudi businessman murder case to 
Thailand's strategy of economic recovery through targeting 
new markets for Thai agricultural products and labor and 
sources of investment, including the Gulf States.  Panitan 
said that PM Abhisit had visited Qatar; Bahrain and the 
U.A.E. were also on Thailand's radar, but the key to better 
relations with all the Gulf states would be fixing the 
relationship with Saudi Arabia. 
 
¶15. (C) Prior to the jewelry theft and its aftermath, more 
than 250,000 Thai workers sent remittances back from Saudi 
Arabia to Thailand, and Saudi tourists flocked to Thailand, 
Panitan noted.  Afterwards, the Saudi government sent most of 
the workers home, and restricted the ability of Saudis to 
travel to Thailand, cutting tourism by 80 percent.  Sarasin 
Viraphong, Executive Vice President of the CP Group, 
Thailand's largest multi-national, also present at the 
January 15 lunch with A/S Shapiro, confirmed that whenever he 
needed to travel to Saudi Arabia, the approval process took 
six weeks - facing a longer wait than any for other country 
his business executive colleagues visited world-wide. 
 
¶16. (C) In describing the "new beginning" for the two 
nations, which would commence with a reopened dialogue with 
Saudi Arabia, MFA Director Suepsakul insisted that the 
possible benefits would go beyond increased Saudi tourism to 
Thailand, new markets in crude oil and gas, or the influx of 
Thai laborers back to Saudi Arabia.  More importantly, better 
relations with Saudi Arabia could result in better relations 
 
BANGKOK 00000278  004.2 OF 004 
 
 
with the Muslim world and, in particular, Thai Muslims. 
 
BUT WHERE IS THE BLUE DIAMOND? 
------------------------------ 
 
¶17. (C) Although Thai authorities recovered some of the 
stolen jewelry, the package returned to Saudi Arabia in March 
1990 contained a number of pieces that proved to be fake, 
including the Blue Diamond.  According to the MFA, about 50 
percent of the jewels were recovered and returned to the 
Saudi royal family; some media reports say that as much as 80 
percent of the returned jewelry was fake.  Soon after the 
incident, some wives of Thai elites, particularly police 
commissioners and generals, were photographed wearing jewelry 
strongly resembling the stolen Saudi jewels at various 
official or high-society events.  While the Blue Diamond 
itself had been spotted several times on the wife of a police 
general in the 1990s, since the 2006 coup a number of 
anti-monarchy web boards and activists have alleged that the 
most recent sighting of the Blue Diamond was on Queen 
Sirikit.  Where exactly the Blue Diamond is may well remain a 
mystery, even if the 20 year trail of death which followed it 
is ultimately resolved. 
JOHN