The investigation into the Bonanza resort encroachment accusations in Khao Yai national forest has taken a new turn after Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha invoked the powers of the controversial Section 44.
Gen Prayut, noting lax law enforcement in the past, decided to use the newly adopted Section 44 to approve the use of soldiers to help collect evidence.
Nakhon Ratchasima’s provincial police commander Pol Maj Gen Thakoon Nattheesri on Thursday applauded the prime minister's move, and said Section 44 might be invoked to help the investigation into Bonanza Golf and Country Club in Pak Chong district of Nakhon Ratchasima province had begun in earnest.
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Earlier, Interior Minister Anupong Paojinda said he had ordered the Land Department to form a committee to verify Bonanza's land ownership documents and whether they had been illegally issued.
Premchit Sangkapong, the deputy secretary-general of the Agricultural Land Reform Office, said Alro staff had started to work with the military to examine the Bonanza compound to see whether it encroached on forest land that officially was intended for farming.
She said parts of the Bonanza land not covered by title deeds were likely to be forest land designated for farming under the state's agricultural land reform scheme.
The Bonanza compound covers 4,000 rai and includes a golf course, a racing circuit, a housing estate and a zoo. The compound was often used for red-shirt rallies in support of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Prime Minister Prayut, in his capacity as chief of the National Council for Peace and Order, signed an order on Wednesday night to empower soldiers to exercise authority under the Criminal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code to tackle encroachment on forests.
He told reporters on Thursday that the police force was too small for the task, so the military would help them out.
Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam said the presence of soldiers would mean officials tasked with suppressing forest encroachment could not "under-perform" as in the past.
Gen Prayut's order warned officials who fail to cooperate with the military that they could face punishment for serious disciplinary violations.
Pol Maj Gen Thakoon said investigators are examining land-purchase documents from the Royal Forest Department and the resort to compare Global Positioning System coordinates.
He said the task was expected to take at least a month.
Pol Col Banyat Tangklarng, chief of Pak Chong police station's investigation unit, said officers will summon everyone involved in issuing Nor Sor Kor 3 land-title deeds for five plots on which a race track was built.
They are gathering more evidence on how the documents could have been approved by authorities when the boundary overlapped state forest land, he said.