Bangkok's Prawet district has vowed to stiffen measures to fend off vendors who returned to the market surrounding the house of the so-called "axe aunts" in the Seri Villa Housing Estate.
Prawet district director Thanasit Metpunmuang was speaking Sunday after district officers and police surveyed the markets surrounding the home of the two sisters who attacked a pickup truck parked in their driveway in February with an axe and pole.
Vendors had returned to the Ple market, one of several markets surrounding the home despite the fact they are prohibited from operating in the area under a Central Administrative Court injunction.
A woman who stayed with the two sisters in the house brought the issue to light via a Facebook post on Saturday.
After surveying the area and speaking to vendors in Ple market, police and district officers said a new space would be sought for them to ply their trade.
Mr Thanasit said Prawet district had filed a police complaint against 70 vendors for breaking the order. "City law enforcement officers have been deployed to the area to make sure this problem will not happen again," he said. Mr Thanasit added he had contacted the owner of another market beside Paradise shopping mall to see if it was a viable alternative for the vendors. This market is less than one kilometre away from Ple market.
Rent at the new space has been agreed at 100-200 baht per vendor a day, he said, insisting the district office has been trying to seek land for the vendors, but none had contacted the officers to find the new locations.
Some, he said, complained they were troubled by the high cost of rental space from elsewhere so they decided to come back to Ple market.
Mr Thanasit conceded he was also surprised to find that the vendors had returned to the market.
He said his office was not negligent about the issue and that once the incident came to light, officers were sent to take control of the area right away.
"From now on, more stringent measures will be used to ensure that vendors do not return to set up their stalls again," Mr Thanasit said, warning those who still commit the offence would be prosecuted.
The Central Administrative Court ruled on May 16 that all five markets in Seri Villa Housing Estate should be dismantled.
- Earlier report: Vendors return to vex 'axe aunties'