Scientific evidence leads to arrest of teacher in a 30-million-baht lottery conflict

BANGKOK, Feb 28 (TNA) -- Pol Gen Chakthip Chaijinda, the commissioner of the Royal Thai Police, said scientific evidence and latest investigation led police to arrest Preecha Khraikhruan, a teacher in Kanchanaburi province, who had claimed to own the jackpot lottery tickets No 533726. The commissioner said that Mr Preecha had presented about 40 witnesses but their accounts could not be proved with any scientific means. He quoted past rulings from the Supreme Court and the Office of the Attorney-General as saying that the owners of government lottery tickets were the people who were carrying them. Pol Gen Chakthip also said that the police were handling only the criminal aspect in the lottery dispute case and Mr Preecha and his disputing party Pol Lt Charoon Wimool had yet to bring their case to the Civil Court that could determine the ownership of the lottery tickets of the Nov 1, 2017 draw. The arrest was made by the Crime Suppression Division that took over the lottery case from local police in Kanchanaburi province. Previous investigation by Kanchanaburi police concluded Mr Preecha was the owner of the tickets. Pol Gen Chakthip said he would punish any police who were proved to abuse their authority in the matter. (TNA)