Blue Diamond Affair

{{Short description|International incident between Saudi Arabia and Thailand}}

File:Faisal_bin_Fahd_in_1978.jpg

The Blue Diamond Affair was an international incident between Saudi Arabia and Thailand triggered by the 1989 theft of gems belonging to the House of Saud by a Thai employee. The affair has soured relations between the two nations for over 30 years.{{cite magazine|last1=Shay|first1=Christopher|title=Thailand's Blue Diamond Heist: Still a Sore Point|url=http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1969920,00.html|access-date=14 Feb 2015|magazine=Time|date=2010-03-07}}

Theft

In 1989, Kriangkrai Techamong, a Thai worker, stole 91 kg (200 pounds){{RP|183}} of jewellery and other valuable gems from the palace of Prince Faisal bin Fahd, where he was employed as a servant.{{cite news| url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/saudi-gems-theft-leaves-deadly-trail-in-thailand-1450865.html | location=London | work=The Independent | first=Terry | last=Mccarthy | date=25 September 1994 | title=Saudi gems theft leaves deadly trail in Thailand}} Kriangkrai had access to the prince's bedroom and hid the stolen jewelry in a vacuum cleaner bag at the palace. It included a valuable 50 carat blue diamond and other gems,{{cite news |last1=Murdoch |first1=Lindsay |title=Thai court throws out murder charges in 'Blue Diamond Affair' |url=https://www.smh.com.au/world/thai-court-throws-out-murder-charges-in-blue-diamond-affair-20140401-zqp8v.html |access-date=4 June 2020 |work=Sydney Morning Herald |date=1 April 2014}} which Kriangkrai then shipped to his home in Lampang Province, Thailand.{{cite news |last1=Hughes |first1=Roland |last2=Yongcharoenchai |first2=Chaiyot |title=Blue Diamond Affair: The mystery of the stolen Saudi jewels |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-49824325 |access-date=28 September 2019 |work=BBC News |date=28 September 2019}} The jewels proved difficult to dispose of. He began selling items for a pittance. A Bangkok jeweller, Santhi Sithanakan, learned of the sales and bought most of the gems from Kriangkrai at a fraction of their value.{{cite news |last1=Marshall |first1=Andrew |title=The curse of the blue diamond |url=https://news.trust.org/item/20100922171500-nipvs/ |access-date=4 June 2020 |work=Thomson Reuters Foundation News |agency=Reuters |date=22 September 2010}}

Recovery

A Royal Thai Police investigation headed by Lieutenant-General Chalor Kerdthes led to Kriangkrai's arrest, Santhi's interrogation and the recovery of most of the stolen jewellery. Kriangkai was sentenced to seven years in prison, but he was released after three years as he cooperated with the police and had confessed.

Chalor Kerdthes's team flew to Saudi Arabia to return the stolen items. However, the Saudi authorities discovered that the blue diamond was missing and that about half of the gems returned were fake.{{cite news|title=The Thai police: A law unto themselves|url=http://www.economist.com/node/11058580|access-date=14 Feb 2015|newspaper=The Economist|date=2008-04-17}}

In Bangkok, rumours spread in the local press that charity gala photos captured a number of government officials' wives wearing diamond necklaces resembling those stolen from the Saudi palace. This fuelled Saudi Arabian suspicions that Thai police and VIPs had taken the jewels for themselves. {{cite news |last1=Ramsey |first1=Adam |title=Assassinations, Curses, and Stolen Jewels: The 'Blue Diamond Affair' Is Still Darkening Saudi-Thai Relations |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/assassinations-curses-and-stolen-jewels-the-blue-diamond-affair-is-still-darkening-saudi-thai-relations/ |access-date=13 October 2018 |work=Vice News |date=2015-10-02}}

Investigation

Mohammad al-Ruwaili, a Saudi Arabian businessman close to the Saudi royal family, travelled to Bangkok to investigate on his own. He went missing on 12 February 1990 and is presumed to have been murdered.{{cite news|title=Court stands by ex-policeman's acquittal|url=http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general/958289/court-stands-by-ex-policemans-acquittal|access-date=4 May 2016|work=Bangkok Post|date=2016-05-04}} Prior to his disappearance, on 4 January 1989, a Saudi diplomat was murdered in Si Lom, Bang Rak District, Bangkok. On 1 February 1990, three more Saudi diplomats were murdered in Thung Mahamek in Bangkok's Yan Nawa District.{{cite news |last1=Al-Ruwaili |first1=Mohammed |title=Thai Blue Diamond Affair: Kingdom demands justice |url=http://www.arabnews.com/news/596436 |access-date=14 February 2015 |work=Arab News |date=2014-07-04 |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140705092320/http://www.arabnews.com/news/596436 |archive-date=2014-07-05 }} The murders remain unsolved,{{cite journal|last1=McClincy|first1=Meghan A.|title=A Blue Thai Affair: The Blue Diamond Affair's Illustration of the Royal Thai Police Force's Standards of Corruption|journal=Penn State Journal of Law & International Affairs|date=Apr 2012|volume=1|issue=1|pages=182–201|url=http://elibrary.law.psu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1009&context=jlia|access-date=14 Feb 2015}}{{RP|185}} and no connection to the jewellery theft has been established, despite the Saudi government's view "...that the Thai government had not done enough to resolve the mystery surrounding Al-Ruwaili's assassination and that of three other Saudi diplomats."

Lieutenant-General Chalor was later charged and convicted of ordering the 1995 murder of the wife and son of a gem dealer allegedly involved in the affair, and he was sentenced to death.{{cite web|url=http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411366/769515 |title=Thai cop convicted of Saudi gem theft |work=Television New Zealand |access-date=21 Sep 2011 |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110519133121/http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411366/769515 |archive-date=May 19, 2011 }} The Supreme Court of Thailand upheld the judgment and sentenced Chalor to death on 16 October 2009. However, Chalor's sentence was reduced to fifty years imprisonment by King Bhumibol Adulyadej on the King's 84th birthday.{{cite news|last1=Laohong|first1=King-oua|title=Saudi gem killer Chalor freed|url=http://www.bangkokpost.com/lite/topstories/376533/chalor-kerdthes-leaves-prison|work=Bangkok Post|access-date=14 Feb 2015|date=2013-10-26}} Chalor received a royal pardon and was released in August 2015.

Six other policemen were also convicted of involvement in the murders. One of those involved, Police Lieutenant-Colonel Pansak Mongkolsilp, was sentenced in 2002 to life in prison. The term was upheld on appeal in 2005, but he was released in 2012.{{cite news |last1=Ngamkham |first1=Wassayos |title=Ex-cop linked to Saudi gems case held in slaying |url=https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general/1557062/ex-cop-linked-to-saudi-gems-case-held-in-slaying |access-date=13 October 2018 |work=Bangkok Post |date=12 October 2018}}

Diplomatic and economic repercussions

Relations between the two countries worsened further following the murders. Saudi Arabia stopped issuing work visas for Thais and discouraged its own citizens from visiting Bangkok. Diplomatic missions were downgraded to the chargé d'affaires level.{{cite news |last1=Shenon |first1=Philip |title=Saudi Envoy Helps Expose a Thai Crime Group: The Police |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/09/19/world/saudi-envoy-helps-expose-a-thai-crime-group-the-police.html |access-date=13 October 2018 |work=New York Times |date=1994-09-19}} The number of Thais working in Saudi Arabia fell from 150,000-200,000 in 1989 to just 10,000 in 2008. The cost to Thailand was about 200 billion baht (USD $5.6 billion) in remittances, as fewer Thai workers were permitted to work in Saudi Arabia.{{cite web|title=Thai Foreign Minister to reopen Saudi gems scandal case|url=http://mathaba.net/MNN/www.2thailand.net/x.htm?http://mathaba.net/MNN/www.2thailand.net/item/?x=584487|website=2Thailand.net|publisher=Mathaba|date=2008-03-06|access-date=14 Feb 2015|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150214163919/http://mathaba.net/MNN/www.2thailand.net/x.htm?http%3A%2F%2Fmathaba.net%2FMNN%2Fwww.2thailand.net%2Fitem%2F%3Fx=584487|archive-date=2015-02-14}} On 25 January 2022, country officials decided to restore full diplomatic relations.{{Cite web|url=https://www.newsendip.com/saudi-arabia-and-thailand-restore-relations-after-three-decades-of-tensions-blue-diamond/|title = Saudi Arabia and Thailand restore relations after three decades of tensions|date = 26 January 2022}}

Aftermath

On 17 March 2016, Kriangkrai Techamong, then 65, told reporters at his home in Lampang that he would become a monk for the remainder of his life to repent for his dishonest actions. He had spent nearly five years in Thai prisons for his theft. Kriangkrai said he believed the missing Blue Diamond was cursed and said its theft had brought a series of calamities on himself and his family.{{cite news|first=Henry|last=Johnson|title=The Man Who Stole a 50-Carat Diamond Is Now a Thai Monk. No, Seriously.|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/03/17/the-man-who-stole-a-50-carat-diamond-is-now-a-thai-monk-no-seriously/|date=March 17, 2016|website=Foreign Policy|access-date=August 1, 2021}}

Chalor Kerdthes was granted a royal pardon and was released in August 2015. He was present at Kriangkrai's ordination ceremony.{{cite news|last1=Charuvastra|first1=Teeranai|title=Man Behind Saudi Diamond Heist Ordained 'For Life'|url=http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.php?newsid=1458202742§ion=11|access-date=27 March 2016|work=Khaosod English|date=2016-03-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160407190856/http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.php?newsid=1458202742§ion=11|archive-date=2016-04-07}}

On 22 March 2019, Thailand's Supreme Court acquitted five police officers charged with the abduction and murder of Saudi businessman Mohammad al-Ruwaili in 1990. The court cited lack of evidence. Over the years, charges against the men were repeatedly thrown out. A criminal court dismissed the case in 2014, a ruling upheld by an appeals court the following year.{{cite news |title=Former Bangkok cops cleared of murder of Saudi businessman |url=https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/crime/1649340/former-bangkok-cops-cleared-of-murder-of-saudi-businessman |access-date=2019-03-24 |work=Bangkok Post |date=2019-03-22}}{{cite news |last1=Saksornchai |first1=Jintamas |title=TOP COURT CLEARS COPS OF MURDER IN SAUDI 'BLUE DIAMOND' CASE |url=http://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/crimecourtscalamity/2019/03/22/top-court-clears-cops-of-murder-in-saudi-blue-diamond-case/ |access-date=2019-03-24 |work=Khaosod English |date=2019-03-22}}

References

External links

[http://jotman.blogspot.ae/2009/08/timeline-of-blue-diamond-affair.html Timeline of the Blue Diamond Affair]
[https://www.nytimes.com/1994/09/19/world/saudi-envoy-helps-expose-a-thai-crime-group-the-police.html Saudi Envoy Helps Expose a Thai Crime Group: The Police New York Times]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20131030064155/http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2009/08/06/national/national_30109198.php Warrant issued over Saudi murder]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20130718084949/http://gulfnews.com/opinions/columnists/the-missing-pillar-in-thai-gulf-ties-1.103442 The missing pillar in Thai-Gulf ties]
[http://asiancorrespondent.com/50038/wikileaks-cable-the-curse-of-the-blue-diamond/ WikiLeaks cable: The Curse of the Blue Diamond] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151027045311/http://asiancorrespondent.com/50038/wikileaks-cable-the-curse-of-the-blue-diamond/ |date=2015-10-27 }}
[http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.php?newsid=1395921773 Al-Ruwaili's Fate 'More Important Than Diamonds'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160407192109/http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.php?newsid=1395921773 |date=2016-04-07 }}
[http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.php?newsid=1396358115 Abrupt Judge Change Mars Al-Ruwaili Verdict] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160407181403/http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.php?newsid=1396358115 |date=2016-04-07 }}
[https://booksmango.com/downloads/the-blue-diamond-affair The Blue Diamond Affair (novel)]

Category:Diplomatic crises of the 1980s

Category:Diplomatic crises of the 1990s

Category:1989 crimes in Saudi Arabia

Category:1989 in Thailand

Category:1980s in Bangkok

Category:1990s in Bangkok

Category:21st century in Bangkok

Category:1990 crimes in Thailand

Category:1990 murders in Thailand

Category:Saudi Arabia–Thailand relations

Category:Controversies in Thailand

Category:Crime in Bangkok