[CPProt.net] Thai man arrested for smuggling dinosaur fossils

[MSN and CPProt list (Ton Cremers)]

Thai man arrested for smuggling dinosaur fossils
   
   
  RUNGRAWEE C. PINYORAT | Associated Press
February 25, 2005

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - A Thai man who offered dinosaur fossils and
valuable antiques for sale on the Internet has been arrested for illegally
trading in ancient artifacts and art, police said Friday.

Acting on a tip-off from U.S. authorities, undercover police arrested Piriya
Wachachitphan, 25, on Monday and confiscated 108 large dinosaur fossils and
five boxes containing smaller pieces from his home in Bangkok, said police
Lt. Gen. Thani Somboonsab.

"It is the first time that police have arrested a smuggler of dinosaur
fossils in Thailand," he said.

Police said Piriya had also sold more than 1,000 cultural artifacts,
including Buddha statues, worth more than US$200,000 (?150,000). He was free
on bail pending trial.

If found guilty of trading in ancient artifacts, Piriya faces a maximum
seven years in jail and a fine of up to 700,000 baht (US$18,000; ?13,500).

At a news conference announcing the arrest, Mark Robinson, a Bangkok-based
official from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, describes the arrest
as "quite significant."

"Usually we find people selling one or two pieces," he said.

Thai and U.S. police had been cooperating for eight months on the case since
American authorities seized stolen antiques exported from Thailand, said
Robinson. Some of the items originated in Cambodia, where rampant plundering
of cultural artifacts has been going on for decades.

Police said Piriya told them the dinosaur fossils, over 100 million years
old, were purchased from villagers in the northeastern provinces of Kalasin
and Khon Kaen, an area of growing archaeological importance.

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