Chiang Rai News
Thai Prime Minister May Ban Chinese Movie Re-Enacting the Murder of 13 Chinese Sailors in Chiang Rai
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CHIANG RAI – Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said Tuesday that the Hong Kong-Chinese action film re-enacting the murder of 13 Chinese sailors on the Mekong River in 2011 by a notorious Myanmar drug kingpin may be banned in Thailand.
“I have ordered authorities to check the content of Operation Mekong. If it is damaging, it will be banned,†Prime Minister Prayut Chan–ocha said on Tuesday, according to Bangkok Post.
The film is about the massacre in the Golden Triangle area of the Mekong river (bordering Chiang Rai) on Oct 5, 2011.
In what became a famous incident 13 Chinese crew members from two Chinese cargo ships were brutally murdered by drug king pin Naw Kham, and his gang in Chiang Rai’s Golden Triangle.
Their bodies were found blindfolded, handcuffed and dumped in the river off Chiang Saen in Chiang Rai province.
With the help of Thai and Lao authorities, Chinese police brought, Naw Kham, to justice, along with his accomplices.
Naw Kham and his accusedd accomplices were brought to justice in China, they were found guilty of attacking the two Chinese cargo ships. He was later executed by China in March 2013 along with three accomplices, including a Thai national, as punishment for the crime of murder.
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During his trial, Naw Kham blamed Thai soldiers for the murders, saying he worked in collusion with Thai soldiers in the Chiang Rai section of the Mekong River, after kidnapping other Chinese sailors and holding their ships for ransom earlier the same year.
Naw Kham was the mastermind, but the murders were allegedly carried out by nine rogue members of an elite Thai army anti-drug force.
Nine Thai soldiers of the Pha Muang Task Force, who reportedly seized 920,000 speed pills from the two barges, were also arrested in connection with the murders of the Chinese sailors.
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The film Operation Mekong , directed by Dante Lam is due to open on Friday in Hong Kong.