BANGKOK -- Thailand's embattled police department may turn out to be the biggest victim of all in the case of the 'cursed' royal Saudi jewels. Saudi Arabia's outspoken charge d'affaires in Thailand, Mohammed Said Khoja, was the first to mention the curse he says is attached to the $20 million in jewels stolen from the Riyadh palace of Prince Faisal Binh Abdul Ra-ish by a Thai servant in 1989. 'I'm not just saying this to make people afraid,' he insisted. 'This is the truth.' Now the Thai police have signed on to the curse theory, warning that grave misfortune will befall anyone holding the gems -- particularly a giant blue diamond most prized by the Saudi royal family. 'The curse does exist,' said Police Maj. Gen. Wannarat Kotcharak, the newly appointed head of a 27-member blue ribbon police panel empowered to get to the bottom of the case. Deputy National Police Chief Pracha Promnok pointed to the misfortune that befell gem trader Santi Srithanakhan, whose wife and 14-year-old son were kidnapped and found murdered in early August after he 'fenced' some of the stolen treasure. 'This is a clear lesson that whoever has the items should learn,' Pracha said. 'I beg those directly or indirectly involved...to cooperate so the items can be returned to their owner.' To make it easier for those holding the missing baubles to come clean, the police panel said it had set up an anonymous post office box -- Bangkok G.P.O. Box 1030 -- for anyone wishing to provide information, or the missing jewels, to police.
Thirteen civilians and police officers, including the recently retired national police chief, have been charged in connection with the abduction and murder of Santi's family. According to Khoja -- a dapper, doggedly persistent diplomat sent by the Saudi royals to Thailand specifically to retrieve the jewels -- 18 people already have died as a result of the theft, including four Saudis. In addition, he estimated Thailand had lost more than $15 billion over the past five years from the cutoff of Saudi tourism and from remittances from about 200,000 Thai workers who lost their jobs in Saudi Arabia as a result of the gems scandal. The damage to the stature of Thailand's police is more difficult to calculate. Lurid newspaper stories about murderous thieves in khaki have bombarded the Thai public almost daily since the bulk of the jewels first went missing while in police custody in 1990. The stories, particularly those about the murders of Santi's wife and son, have triggered widespread revulsion among the Thai public. Thailand's best-known human rights lawyer, Thongbai Thongpao, said the intense media scrutiny of the case has shattered public confidence in the police. 'I'm so fed up with it,' Thongbai said. 'The police have failed to make any substantial achievement in the last five years, except for looking busy searching for the missing jewelry. They barely have time to oversee the public order.' Meanwhile, the man who started it all, Kriangkrai Techamong, has lived to rue the day five years ago when he decided to betray the trust of his employer. Kriangkrai, a farmer's son who had been working on and off as a domestic servant in Saudi Arabia since 1977, said he planned the theft shortly after stumbling on the royal treasure room while cleaning on the second floor of Prince Faisal's palace. While the prince and his consort were on a two-month trip, Kriangkrai managed to ship nearly 200 pounds of jewelry, plus some $80,000 in cash, to Thailand. When he returned home, Kriangkrai went on a wild, three-month spending spree until his capture in January 1990. He said he sold some of the stolen diamonds for as little as $20. The details of what has become known as the jewelry heist of the century came out during Kriangkrai's trial and during subsequent interviews with Thai publications. But what happened to the remaining jewels after they were recovered by police is open to question -- and endless rumors. After he was convicted of the original theft, Kriangkrai served two and one-half years of a five-year sentence. Now he says he's broke, miserable and continually hounded by reporters. In an interview published Oct. 27 in the Nation newspaper, Kriangkrai said he was tired of being questioned about the theft, but eager to tell all he knows to the latest high-level police investigative body. 'Although I was questioned over 30 times by previous police teams, I am willing to cooperate with the new one,' he said. 'I want the matter to be over.' That sentiment has been echoed by Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai and a succession of exasperated police chiefs. Gen. Pote Boonyachinda, who took office Sept. 1 as national police chief, said solving the jewelry case -- and restoring faith in the department -- would be his top priority. All three of his immediate predecessors said the same thing and all three are facing malfeasance or criminal charges related to the embezzlement of the gems or the subsequent cover-up. Thais appear resigned to the notion that the case will never be solved, that the jewels are forever lost down the rathole of endemic police corruption. At a recent social function attended by two of the former police chiefs, Khoja was asked by a reporter if he believed the media frenzy over the case might eventually lead to reform of Thailand's much- maligned police department. 'No way,' the Saudi diplomat said.
