Two men who used fake land documents to apply for title deeds for land in a national park and forest reserves in Phuket were given jailterms ranging from 8-13 years.
The Phuket provincial court found Mr Nakorn Wongseethong and Mr Chan Pongpa guilty of using fake Sor Kor 1 land occupation rights for 80 rai of land in the Sirinart national park and Khao Ruak-Khao Muang forest reserves which are adjacent to the sea at Ao Sakhu to apply for title deeds.
The two men were taken to the court by the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plants Conservation.
The court handed down 13 years jailterm on Mr Nakorn and fined him nine million baht while Mr Chan was given eight years and eight months and fined nine million baht. The jailterms were not suspended.
Sirinart park chief Mr Kittipat Tharapibaan said that the two defendants were merely representatives of the real mastermind who engineered and financed the land grabbing for profiteering.
