Construction tycoon Premchai Karnasuta will likely face firearms charges after police found at least two of the weapons seized from his house earlier might be illegal.
Forensic police and Interior Ministry officials found on Tuesday one of the guns was a self-assembled air rifle, a type not allowed under the firearms act and a 1979 ministerial regulation.
The other is a 25-bullet 9mm automatic rifle, which is larger than the size allowed under the 1979 ministerial regulation. The barrel of the seized rifle was 420mm long with a 9mm bore compared to the maximum allowed under the regulation of 160mm long and 5.6mm bore.
Authorities have yet to find documents for another eight firearms.
Police seized 40 firearms from Mr Premchai’s house on Soi Soonviijai in Bangkok on Feb 7. Most of them were long guns.
The president of SET-listed Italian-Thai Development Plc, together with three others, was caught with carcasses of animals of endangered species and several firearms in a prohibited area of the World Heritage Thungyai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary in Kanchanaburi province late on Feb 4. They were released on bail during the investigation and are due to appear in court on March 26.
He was charged with hunting animals of endangered species, hunting in prohibited areas and possession of firearms. He denied the charges.
