Chapter 1
This story is about a robbery of a blue diamond, along with other precious gems, that caused bitterness and harmed the diplomatic relations between two countries. For nearly thirty long years, these two countries did not talk to each other and maintained considerable distance. There could not be any such instance where a robbery led to differences between two great nations.
A few months ago it was reported that these two countries have decided to bury their past and restart diplomatic relations among them with the visit of the prime minister of one country to another country after a long wait of thirty years.
Saudi Arabia and Thailand are two Asian countries having a cordial relationship between them. Many youths from Thailand worked in Saudi in different occupations. All that changed due to a robbery committed by an individual popularly known as the Blue Diamond heist.
The relations between these two nations broke to such an extent that they were not even in diplomatic terms. A recent visit by the Saudi Prime minister to Thailand again increased the hope of strengthening their broken relations again.
A story of a robbery by a thief that led to six murders and surrounded by mystery where the police investigator was life imprisoned, the thief became a monk, and that resulted in Saudi Arabia cancelling the work permit visa of at least 2 lakh Thai citizens, which harmed the economy of Thailand as well.
Chapter 2
A pristine blue diamond of 50 Carats costing millions of dollars and other valuable gems was stolen from the palace, which remains untraced till today, is the main point of the conflict between these two nations.
Prince Faisal Bin Fahd Al Saud was the prince of Saudi Arabia residing in Riyadh in his lavish palace. He owned a large collection of gems and valuables among other luxury items. He had a large collection of cars and pets. The palace itself is decorated with precious stones and luxury items.
The royal palace was huge and lavish and employed hundreds of servants for its upkeeping. Servants of diverse nationalities worked in different departments of housekeeping.
Kriangkrai, a Thai national from the Lampang city of Thailand also worked as a servant in the prince’s palace. He had access to the prince’s bedroom for cleaning and dusting purposes. He was a trusted man working in the royal palace for almost 10 years.
Chapter 3
Being a trusted servant of the palace he was trusted by the prince as he diligently worked in the palace for the last ten years with impeccable record. He was given the responsibility to clean the prince’s bedroom.
In October, November 1989, the prince and his family planned a vacation trip to Europe. Kriangkrai was aware of this vacation trip; he knew that the prince had a varied collection of valuable gems. He was also aware of the location of precious gems and jewellery.
Kriangkrai always dreamt of living a lavish life himself, so he thought of stealing the valuables and returning to Thailand, and leading a life of luxury. He was also aware, that if he was caught stealing, his hands would be chopped off, and he would languish his entire life in a Saudi prison.
Opportunity arrived as the prince and his family headed for vacations in Europe with servants in the palace. He knew exactly where the valuable gems are located in the cupboards.
Chapter 4
One day he entered into the bedroom of the prince and cleaned it. He never went out of the room and remained hiding as his duty timing finished. In the night, he opened the cupboards and decamped all the precious gems, and hid it all inside the vacuum cleaner bag and other dirtbags.
The next day he began removing the dirtbags one at a time and moved them outside the palace in a safe location. He had already planned to send these valuables gems to his home in Thailand.
Kriangkrai went to the cargo office and booked a parcel for his home address in Lampang in Thailand. He knew that Thai customs authorities would check the contents of the cargo and that could lead to his arrest. He also knew that customs officials were corrupt and could be managed by money as he had done so in the past.
In the parcel, he placed an envelope for the customs officials with money and a letter stating that the cargo had some pornographic materials that can be allowed to pass, and the fees for allowing the material is enclosed in the envelope.
Chapter 5
Everything went according to the plan, and Kriangkrai knew that cargo would take at least a week to arrive in Thailand. While in the palace, everything was quiet as no one had discovered the theft since the prince and his family were on a vacation. He had planned to leave Saudi before the arrival of the prince.
Kriangkrai departs Saudi for Thailand and reaches his home a day before the cargo was about to reach according to his plan. The cargo arrived a day later, and he was personally present to receive the cargo. He handed over the envelope to the customs authorities, and they became happy on receiving a bribe and let his cargo pass unchecked.
The next day he took some of the valuable gems to local jewellers for selling. The jewellers were surprised to view such precious stones. He managed to sell some of them and collected the cash. Kriangkrai decided to sell the remaining items later according to his requirement for avoiding being caught and looked upon with suspicion.
After returning from vacation, the prince observed that costly watches, diamond sets bracelets, earrings, and valuable gems were missing from his cupboard.
Chapter 6
The prince was so rich, he would have neglected this theft of costly watches and diamond necklaces, bracelets, or earrings, but he became angry when he could not find the precious 50-carat blue diamond.
The estimated amount of this theft committed in 1989 was worth more than 20 million dollars. It was easily traced by Saudi police that Kriangkrai was the person responsible for stealing the valuables worth millions of dollars.
The Saudi administration contacted the Thai consulate and reported the theft providing the details of the missing valuables. They wanted an investigation to be initiated by the Thai government, and the culprit handed over to them along with the stolen valuables.
Thailand had good diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia. On receiving the complaint, the Thai government initiated an investigation led by top royal Thai police officer Lieutenant-General Chalor Kerdthes, and his team. They went to Kriangkrai’s house and arrested him with the unsold valuables gems.
Chapter 7
The police went to the gems shops where he had sold some of the valuable items and retrieved them, and they assured that the case was nearing its closure. They arrested Kriangkrai and produced him before a magistrate, and sentenced him to 7 years of imprisonment.
Police collected all the valuables recovered from him and sent them to Saudi Arabia through a special courier. The Saudi prince could not find the 50-carat blue diamond from the recovered items.
He also observed that around 80 percent of jewellery and precious valuables returned by the Thai government were fake. The matter was again reported back to the Thai government. The Thai government assured the Saudi officials that they would investigate the matter.
Meanwhile, some local newspapers in Thailand reported this incident of theft from the royal palace of the prince in Riyadh. They also published pictures of the wives of top-ranking government and police officials attending a party and most of them wearing costly diamond-studded jewellery that resembled the same that was stolen.
Chapter 8
The party was attended by family members of the royal family of Thailand wearing some of those jewellery items. It landed Thailand in an embarrassing situation.
Saudi Prince Faisal Bin Fahd Al Saud became angry, and he sought an investigation into the matter as he was returned fake items, while the actual items were worn by members of the government in Thailand. Moreover, the much sought-after blue diamond was not returned.
Saudi Arabia ordered Thai diplomats to return to their nation. They also canceled the work permit visa of about 2 lakh Thai citizens and sent them back home. The matter turned so worse that the Saudi government closed all diplomatic relations and was not on talking terms with the Thai government.
Prince Faisal Bin Fahd Al Saud was clear in his views that it will not keep any relations with a country that cheats and betrays the trust of another country. Saudi diplomats stationed in Bangkok were ordered to enquire about the matter.
Chapter 9
Beginning of February 1990, two Saudi diplomats were traveling in a car to meet a lead as a process of inquiry. Suddenly a group of people stops their car and forces them to step out and shoots them at point-blank range. This armed group then went to the place of the lead person and killed him.
Three killings related to the investigation of a missing blue diamond were witnessed on a single day. The Saudi Prince was furious, and they sought a proper investigation into the killings of their diplomats.
Mohammad al-Ruwaili was a Saudi Arabian businessman close to the Saudi royal family and had business connections in Thailand. He was sent to investigate the missing blue diamond and the killings of the diplomats. Three days after his arrival, on 12th February 1990, Ruwaili went missing. The deaths of Saudi diplomats and Ruwaili remain a mystery even after 30 years.
This angered the Saudi Prince even further as Ruwaili was close to the Royal Saudi family. Realizing that the matter was going out of their hands, the Thai government framed a committee for investigation.
Chapter 10
Investigation committee members interrogated Kriangkrai, who was serving his prison sentence, and found that he sold some of the jewellery items to a Bangkok gem dealer. A few days later, the body of the wife and son of that gem dealer was found in their Mercedes car beside a lonely road.
The investigating team said that both died in a road accident, but later post-mortem reports revealed they were killed and then placed in a car. The Thai government just covered up all the investigations and demolished any clues of proof associated with the theft.
The investigating officer Lieutenant-General Chalor Kerdthes was arrested for these two murders along with the conspiracy of stealing the precious gems and jewellery. He was charged and convicted of ordering the 1995 murder and sentenced to death. His death sentence however was reduced to twenty years in prison.
The information that seeped out from different sources is that Kriangkrai approached small jewellers to sell the stolen goods. The jewellers knew that these items contained precious stones and gems. Police managed to recover all of the stolen items from him, and the jewellers and gem dealers to whom he had sold the items.
Chapter 11
The Thai police became greedy on viewing such valuable gems. As this information reached the royal Thai family, females of the royal family were mesmerized to see such precious items. They kept most of the jewellery along with the precious blue diamond. The remaining items were gifted by the police officers to their wives.
When things started heating up, the Thai officials caught hold of jewellers and made fake copies of those items, and sent it back to Saudi Prince which angered the Saudi Prince and caused tension among the two nations that also ended up in the death of six persons and life imprisonment for the leading police investigating officer.
Kriangkrai was released after completing three years of his prison sentence reduced from seven years as he co-operated with the police investigation and confessed his crime. He later became a monk and still resides in Lampang.
He regrets when he thinks about his past activities, and confesses that all the stolen goods were recovered by police. Most of them were not handed over to the Saudi government. The remaining stolen precious gems and jewellery items, including the lost blue diamond, are yet to be recovered and believed to be under the possession of the Thai royal family.
(2 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)