According to Thai media reports, the Thai government officially announced on June 7, 2022, that all Saudi citizens will be granted 30 days of visa-free entry treatment to promote and promote the restoration and normalization of relations between the two countries.
Normalization of diplomatic relations between the two countries will resume in 2022
Thailand and Saudi Arabia have come to a grudge over the famous Blue Diamond Affair of the 1980s, which led to a deterioration in relations between Saudi Arabia and Thailand for 30 years, until normalization of diplomatic relations was restored in January 2022.
Causes and circumstances of the event
The blue diamond thief who brought up the "Blue Diamond Affair" let's go back in time to 1989, when Thai worker Kriangkrai Techamong worked in the palace of Prince Fasalbin Fah in Saudi Arabia.
Junklai Tai Chamun, from Thailand's Northern Carriage State, Next Door to Chiang Mai in Lampang Province. At this time, he was just an ordinary cleaner in the palace of the Saudi prince, how did he expect that his name would become a "blue diamond thief", and the diplomatic relations between the two countries were entangled.
Kriangkrai Techamong recent photo 2019
In his spare time, Janclair knows many secrets of the Prince's Palace, such as the Prince's 4 safes filled with gold and silver jewelry, 3 of which are never locked. At that time, because of his good gambling, he owed a bunch of gambling debts, so he had to travel far and wide to work here to pay it back.
If you can steal some of the prince's gold and silver jewelry and fly away, won't you turn over the salted fish and jump the dragon gate? Although thieves are caught, in Saudi Arabia will face amputation punishment, but once people are greedy, it is difficult for reason to overcome greed, so Jiang Clay still chooses to take the risk.
Pictured: Web Reference - Numerous princes of the Saudi royal family
One day, just when the Saudi prince and his wife went on vacation, there were 3 months without the palace, the opportunity was rare, Jiang Kelai saw a heavenly opportunity, so one day, found an excuse, after dark, continue to stay in the palace, taking advantage of the night, Jiang Clay sneaked into the prince's bedroom, used a screwdriver to pry open the safe in the bedroom and stole the jewelry, the jewelry was glued to the body with tape, and some were hidden in cleaning tools and garbage bags to transport out of the palace.
According to the Saudi royal family's estimates, 30 kilograms of gold and silver jewelry were stolen, worth about 20 million US dollars, and one of the blue diamonds was priceless and could not be valued.
Where should the stolen jewelry be hidden? He had already surveyed the dots, and that night he scattered the gold and silver treasures in different corners that were not easy to find, and in the month after that, he packed the jewels in 3 suitcases and transported them in batches to his hometown in Lampang Province, northern Thailand.
Partially recovered jewelry display
By the time the Saudi royal family discovered the stolen jewelry, Jankolai had already returned to Thailand. As for how jewelry passes customs security? The clever Jiang Kelai had already thought of this, and he knew that it was difficult for the customs people to refuse to accept bribes, so he put an envelope full of money in the suitcase, and attached a note saying that the box contained astringent items and did not want to be opened for inspection.
After returning to his hometown, Jonclair sold one of the boxes of jewelry cheaply, and eventually most of the jewelry went to jeweler Sandy. After discovering the theft of the jewels, the Saudi royal family immediately asked Thailand to hunt down the thieves.
In January 1990, the Royal Thai Police assigned Lieutenant General Chalor Kerdthes to lead a team to investigate, and eventually Jankley was arrested at his home in Lampang, where two boxes of jewelry were found and most of the jewelry that had been sold was recovered. Jankleigh was subsequently extradited from Thailand to Saudi Arabia and sentenced to 5 years in prison for pleading guilty and offering recourse clues.
Kriangkrai Techamong identification site (1st from right)
The plot is magically reversed
After Thailand returns the stolen jewelry, the matter is not over. When the Saudi police counted the stolen goods recovered, they found that 80% of the gold and silver jewelry had not been returned, and about half of the jewelry returned was fake, and the most important blue diamonds were not among them.
It is said that this blue diamond is a rare 50-carat blue diamond, the best of the world's top scarce and most valuable gems.
Image: Network
Then, several more photos circulated showing the wife of a Thai police executive wearing a necklace around her neck that bore a striking resemblance to missing jewelry.
Therefore, the Saudi royal family and government were very angry and demanded that the Thai side immediately investigate thoroughly and immediately return all the genuine goods, so Saudi Arabia sent 3 diplomats and a businessman to Thailand to investigate the whereabouts of the jewels.
Blood and light disaster
In February 1990, three Saudi Arabian diplomats sent to Thailand were shot dead about half a mile from the embassy and one in the apartment where they lived.
Another Saudi Arabian businessman, Mohammad al-Ruwaili, who was sent to Thailand, arrived in Bangkok on February 12 to investigate, but just two days after his arrival, he was abducted and disappeared on February 14, his life and death uncertain, and he was presumed to have been killed, and his body has not been found.
Younger brother of Mohammed Rovaili
Thai police stressed that these cases had nothing to do with the jewelry theft and promised to set up a special investigation team to specifically target the murders, but the investigation has not progressed.
The deputy consul general of the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok, who left office in 2010, wrote a diplomatic documentary that was later exposed by WikiLeaks, which said the killing of three diplomats was related to a clash between Saudi Arabia and Lebanese Allah militias. The gang is suspected of killing 100 Saudi Tourists in Thailand and using fake passports to help Thais illegally smuggle into the country. After that, the matter was closed and there was no follow-up.
Different speculations
Mohammed Said Khoja, a veteran Saudi diplomat with a different view, has a different view, having been a diplomat for 35 years, and after the jewelry theft, he was also sent to Bangkok to investigate, which was planned to stay for 3 months and then several years.
Because of the feud between the two countries, he is a counsellor, and he has given interviews, large and small, and made headlines in various media in Thailand. Koja has publicly accused Thai police of stealing stolen goods and killing Saudi diplomats and businessmen. In a 1994 interview with The New York Times, he said that the police here are above the government, I am a Muslim, and I want to stay and fight the demons here. Even when interviewed, he feared being harmed by the police, so he put his revolver where he could get his hands on it.
Mohammed Said Khoja
Re-issue bizarre death cases
Under pressure from the Saudi authorities, the Thai government managed to put an end to the Blue Diamond incident and the bloody case, so it began to investigate that the jewelry that helped Mr. Jiangkolai sell the stolen jewelry was Sandy, and suspected that he had swapped the jewelry to fake it.
Even more bizarre is that in July 1994, when the investigation had just begun, jeweler Sandy's wife and 14-year-old son died in a car accident, and forensic identification proved that the deceased had been killed before the car accident, that is, he was deliberately killed in a car accident to cover up the truth.
Lieutenant General Chalor Kerdthes, who was in charge of the jewelry theft investigation, was subsequently arrested, and Charlo adamantly denied the charges, but four of his subordinates confessed that Charlo instructed them to carry out the kidnapping, and in 2006, Thailand's Supreme Court sentenced Charlo to death.
Footage of Lieutenant General Chalor Kerdthes on trial
However, on The occasion of King Bhumibol Adulyadej's 84th birthday, Charlo's sentence was reduced to 50 years' imprisonment, which was later pardoned by the royal family and released in August 2015.
Allegations against five police officers accused of involvement in the kidnapping and murder of Mohammed Rowayili have been dismissed several times over the years, and on March 22, 2019, Thailand's Supreme Court acquitted five police officers for lack of evidence.
After his release from prison, Charlo had been a monk to practice, but it was not long.
Footage of Lieutenant General Chalor Kerdthes
Event impact
Relations between Saudi Arabia and Thailand deteriorated after the murder of the Saudi national ambassador in 1990. Saudi Arabia stopped issuing work visas to Thais, completely withdrew its investment in Thailand, and advised its citizens not to travel to Thailand for security reasons.
The number of Thais working in Saudi Arabia fell from a peak of 150,000 to 200,000 in 1989 to around 10,000 in 2008.
The two countries have been inseparable from each other for 33 years until 2022.
At the ceremony to restore diplomatic relations between the two countries, Prime Minister Prayut Expressed regret over what had happened in the past, and the two leaders agreed to set aside everything and restore their relations and cooperation.
Prime Minister's spokesman Trisuree Trisaranakun said the new visa agreement would make it easier for Saudi tourists to visit Thailand. He added that saudi arabia used to allow about 30,000 residents to visit Thailand a year, but the new arrangement will increase that number to about 100,000 to 150,000 people.
Where is the diamond thief of that year?
The protagonist of the "Blue Diamond Affair", which triggered the diplomatic storm between the two countries, the party Jiang Kleckley was in prison, received two amnesties from the Saudi royal family, and eventually served two and a half years in prison.
After he was released from prison, he immediately changed his surname so as not to affect his children. On March 17, 2016, junklai returned to Thailand and became a monk, whose french name translates to "a man as hard as a diamond." The media and Lieutenant General Charlo, who was in charge of investigating the case, were invited to witness the ordination ceremony.
Janclair was ordained here for 3 years
He said that throughout his life, he was cursed by the missing blue diamonds, so he decided to become a monk and be ordained to get rid of the bad luck brought by jewelry. However, even in the temple, he did not get peace and escape the shadow of the past, and he was often approached and asked where he had hidden the blue diamond.
After being a monk for 3 years, Janklei returned to the custom, saying that he still had a family to support. In 2019, when the BBC reporter tossed and turned, inquired from many sides, and found him, he was doing farm work in his own field.
In 2019, Jiang Clay of his own field
Seeing the reporter, he looked frightened, and after repeatedly confirming that it was not the police who were asking him for trouble, he insisted on going outside to talk in the rice field.
"Everything that happened in the past was like a nightmare," he said. In the days that followed, he promised to give his first in-depth interview in 30 years. He confessed that even today, he was still afraid that the events of that year would bring him the misfortune of killing himself.
He has now moved to a remote area in northwestern Thailand, but he says the deep fear has been there since the moment the police arrested him from his home in Lampang.
Jiang Clay said that he really did not expect that stealing jewelry would cause so many things and make so much trouble, he only knew that gold was valuable, he did not know that jewelry was so valuable, and he did not know it until after he was released from prison.
"If it weren't for Thailand's powerful big men getting involved, things wouldn't have gotten so big." He said to himself.
Today, Jiang Clay is 63 years old, has no fixed job, in order to support his family, mainly doing farm work and farming, living in a simple wooden house.
"I have a simple life, like a farmer", "I don't have much money, I can barely support my family, and for me this may be a real happiness." He said.
As for the whereabouts of the 60-carat blue diamond, it is still a mystery.
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