BANGKOK, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- A Thai business tycoon was arrested on Monday on charges of illegally hunting and killing wildlife in western Thailand earlier this month, police said on Tuesday.
Premchai Karnasuta, 63, the president of giant contractor Italian-Thai Development Co., was rounded up alongside three other alleged game hunters at a makeshift camp in Thong Pha Phum district of Kanchanaburi province, about 270 kilometers northwest of Bangkok, for allegedly hunting and slaying a panther, a barking deer and a pheasant in Thung Yai Naresuan wildlife sanctuary, the police said.
The authorities found remains of the slain panther at the camp where Premchai and the other game hunters, including one female, had spent the night in the sanctuary area.
Two rifles, a shotgun and ammunition, allegedly used in the hunting for the legally protected wildlife by the business tycoon and his fellow hunters, were seized by the authorities.
General Surasak Karnjanarat, Thai minister of natural resources and environment, said to Thai media on Tuesday that the case must be dealt with according to the law.
