As the investigation into the collapse of a building continues following last week’s devastating earthquake in neighbouring Myanmar, four Chinese nationals have been detained in Thailand’s Bangkok for attempting to steal sensitive documents from the site.
According to Thai news portal The Nation, the men were caught illegally entering the area of a high-rise building that collapsed during last week’s powerful earthquake and removing over 30 files from there.
The building, the only high-rise to collapse in Bangkok due to the tremors of the Myanmar eartquake, was part of a Chinese-backed construction project. It collapsed within seconds after the 7.7 magnitude quake struck, leaving behind a heap of rubble and trapping dozens of people beneath it.
The collapse has raised serious concerns about the handling of the disaster site and the intentions behind their actions.
Police say 32 filed removed from the collapse site
Police Major General Nopasin Poolswat confirmed to the local media that the four Chinese nationals had been caught removing 32 files of documents from the collapsed State Audit Office (SAO) building.
The Bangkok authorities designated the site as a restricted area where no one was allowed to enter without authorisation. However, the police later received information about some individuals removing documents from the site.
During the police probe, it was revealed that one of the men had a valid work permit and claimed he was the project manager for a building construction project.
Three other men were later found, and the stolen documents were recovered, including blueprints and various other paperwork related to the building’s construction.
Meanwhile, the detained individuals explained to authorities that they were subcontractors working for the construction firm involved in the project.
