The reunion was well worth a dance. On January 25, in the Saudi city of Diriyah, Prayut Chan-o-cha, sketched a few steps during an official ceremony. Surrounded by local dignitaries, sabers in hand, the Thai Prime Minister was received with great pomp by Mohammed bin Salman, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. An official visit which marks the end of a thirty-three year quarrel between Bangkok and Ryad.
20 million dollars worth of gems
The affair began in 1989 when Kriangkrai Techamong, a young Thai in the service of one of King Fahd’s sons, stole 90 kilos of jewels and precious stones from a palace: rubies, sapphires, emeralds, pearls, gold and, above all, a magnificent blue diamond of 50 carats. Kriangkrai sends his loot – estimated at 20 million dollars – to Thailand, before returning to his own country, claiming a seriously ill father.
After selling his loot to a jeweler in Bangkok, he returns to his village, but his new life as a mogul attracts attention. In early 1990, he was arrested and confessed his theft. The jewels, found, are transported to Riyadh by an escort of Thai police officers under the direction of Lieutenant General Chalor Kerdthes, an officer with the reputation of “supercop” in Thailand.
We think the matter is settled… Serious error and anger of the Saudis: most of the precious stones returned are fake. Above all, the blue diamond is missing! The case takes a dramatic turn when three Saudi diplomats responsible for investigating this mystification are assassinated in Bangkok. They would have learned that the police had shared part of the jewelry… A fourth Saudi, a businessman also assigned to this investigation, disappears.
In response, Saudi Arabia is reducing its diplomatic mission in Bangkok, banning its nationals from traveling for tourism in Thailand and canceling the employment contracts of some 200,000 Thais, which brought the country 1.5 to 2 billion dollars a year. year.
At that time, the Saudi Chargé d’Affaires in Bangkok, Mohammed Said Khoja, a 56-year-old veteran diplomat, was spending all of his time investigating the case, protected by four bodyguards. During an interview with him in 1994, he shows off a silver-plated Smith and Wesson .38 Special revolver, armed with “special bullets that allow firing without really aiming”. He goes into detail about Thai police corruption, government incompetence and predicts that “the curse of the blue diamond and the jewels will harm whoever benefits from it”. The Saudi charge d’affaires irritates the Thais all the more because he claims, without providing proof, that “certain stones, including the blue diamond, are in the hands of very influential and untouchable people in Thailand”. A rumor fanned by “witnesses” who would have seen these jewels around the necks of wives or mistresses of police officers and other high-ranking characters.
A reconciliation with economic objectives
It will take three decades and this invitation from MBS for the two countries to mend their ways. Bangkok and Riyadh have promised to restore diplomatic relations. Already, the Saudi company Saudia has restored its flights to Bangkok.
According to observers, this rapprochement is due to the Saudis’ desire to open up to the world and to diversify their economy, excluding oil. “Thailand can benefit from Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 plan on trade and investment, explained Jaran Maluleem, Middle East scholar at Thammasat University, Bangkok Post. And Ryad is going to need manpower, especially in the field of construction, and the Thais had a rather good reputation with their Saudi employers” before the crisis.
Kriangkrai, the man whose greed caused these three decades of misfortune, spent five years in prison before settling back, poor, in his village. In 2016, he entered the Buddhist orders by being ordained as a monk. Kriangkrai’s monastic name is Wachira Yano, which in Thai means “one who has the perception of the diamond”.