Five Chinese citizens have been arrested in Chatuchak district of Thailand. They are alleged to have entered a restricted area and tried to remove important documents from there. The incident occurred after the collapse of the building, which fell on March 28 due to a powerful earthquake in Myanmar.
According to local media reports, the police said that the arrested Chinese citizens violated the official order and tried to take out other important documents including the building’s blueprint.
More than 1,700 people have died so far due to the collapse of this 33-storey office building. After this tragedy, the authorities declared this place as a disaster affected banned area.
According to Thai media reports, the five Chinese citizens arrived at the site without permission and eyewitnesses saw them carrying documents from the restricted area. These documents allegedly had architectural blueprint and other documents related to the construction project, which raised questions about their intention.
A complaint was lodged by a legal officer on 30 March 2025, alleging that these persons violated the emergency order issued by the Bangkok Governor. The fallen building was being constructed by a Chinese company and joint venture of a major Thai construction company.
One of the arrested people described himself as a project director and claimed that he had evidence of working permits and joint ventures. He said that no attempt was being made to hide anything, and those documents were taking only for the insurance process.
However, Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) has clarified that only with the special permission of the Bangkok Governor can be allowed to enter the site. At the moment, police and district officials are investigating the matter intensively and are trying to understand how important the documents removed were and what could be the full impact of this violation.
