Mon Mar 31 02:33:32 UTC 2025: ## Four Chinese Nationals Arrested After Illegal Document Retrieval at Collapsed Bangkok Building
**Bangkok, Thailand –** Four Chinese nationals were arrested on Sunday for illegally entering the site of a collapsed 30-story building in Bangkok’s Chatuchak District and removing documents. The building, under construction for the State Audit Office (SAO), crumbled during Friday’s 7.7 magnitude earthquake that struck central Myanmar.
The men, who claimed to be subcontractors working for a Chinese-backed firm partnered with Italian-Thai Development Public Company Limited, said they were retrieving documents for an insurance claim. Police confiscated 32 files from them. Authorities initially released the suspects after questioning but later filed charges against them and a fifth individual, their employer, for violating the disaster zone declaration imposed after the earthquake. The investigation into the five Chinese nationals is ongoing.
The earthquake caused significant damage to the SAO building, resulting in at least 17 confirmed deaths, 32 injuries, and 83 missing, mostly construction workers. Search and rescue operations are continuing amidst the intense heat. While Bangkok has numerous high-rise construction projects, the SAO building was the only one to suffer such catastrophic damage, raising questions about its structural integrity. The building, three years under construction and costing over two billion baht (approximately £45 million), is now the subject of an investigation.
First Piper 