In the sweltering heat of Riyadh, 1989, a seemingly unremarkable Thai janitor named Kriangkrai Techamong plotted a theft that would ripple across continents and decades. Employed in the opulent palace of Prince Faisal bin Fahd, eldest son of King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, Kriangkrai had intimate knowledge of the royal jewels. He noticed that three of the four safes containing priceless gems were frequently left unlocked. Opportunity and desperation collided: Kriangkrai was buried under gambling debts and personal fear, living in a world where theft could mean amputation.
Over several weeks, he removed approximately 91 kilograms of jewelry, including a legendary 50-carat blue diamond, hiding them in vacuum bags and inside cleaning equipment. When the prince and his wife departed for a three-month holiday, Kriangkrai seized the moment, shipping the treasures to Thailand hidden under a false declaration: pornographic materials, accompanied by a bribe to customs officials. The plan succeeded (BBC News, 2019; Forking Paths, 2022).
Back in Thailand, Kriangkrai buried some of the loot on his property in Lampang province, while selling other pieces to local gem dealers. This sale, seemingly innocuous, would ignite a cascade of murder, disappearances, and international scandal. By January 1990, Saudi authorities alerted Thai police, who arrested Kriangkrai. He cooperated fully, disclosing the locations of the buried jewels and the dealers involved. Some items were recovered, but the majority—including the coveted blue diamond—was gone, and many of the returned jewels were counterfeits. Suspicion swirled around the Thai police, some allegedly having embezzled or replaced the recovered gems (BBC News, 2019).
The case spiraled further into darkness. In February 1990, three Saudi diplomats in Bangkok were assassinated in an apparent effort to silence inquiries into the missing jewels. A Saudi investigator, Mohammad al-Ruwaili, sent to track the gems, vanished—presumed murdered. Then, the gem dealer Santi Sithanakan’s family was brutally attacked; his wife and son were killed under suspicious circumstances, their deaths officially attributed to a road accident, but widely believed to be murder (Nation Thailand, 2022).
At the center of the Thai side of the investigation was Police Chief Chalor Kerdthes. Initially leading the hunt for the missing jewels, Chalor’s story darkened. He was implicated in orchestrating murders connected to the affair, including the Srithanakhan family, who had information about the gems. Convicted of these crimes, Chalor was sentenced to death, later commuted to 50 years in prison, serving 19 years before a royal pardon in 2015. Chalor adopted a new identity, yet maintained his innocence, reflecting the tangled intersection of corruption, power, and criminality in Thailand’s law enforcement (Middiamonds.com, 2022; Time Archive, 1994).
Even after decades, the blue diamond itself remains missing. Some believe Kriangkrai hid it; others suspect it was lost in the turmoil following the theft. Its story became wrapped in myth: a cursed gem, said to bring misfortune to anyone involved. The YouTube documentary “The Cursed Diamond: The Disturbing Horror Story” emphasizes this narrative, highlighting how greed, deception, and violence spiraled from a single theft, and how lives—both Thai and Saudi—were devastated (YouTube, 2019).
Decades later, in January 2022, Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha visited Riyadh to restore full diplomatic relations. Agreements were made, Thai workers could return to Saudi Arabia, and trade resumed. Yet the shadow of the Blue Diamond Affair lingers, a haunting reminder of how theft, corruption, and human ambition can devastate nations (Reuters, 2022).
For security and investigation professionals, the affair offers a stark lesson: meticulous planning, insider knowledge, and human weakness can overwhelm even the best systems. But for everyone else, it remains an irresistible story: a jewel, a curse, and a trail of death, disappearing into history.
References
- BBC News. (2019, September 28). Blue Diamond Affair: The mystery of the stolen Saudi jewels.
- Forking Paths. (2022, November 18). A Blue Diamond Affair: the Geopolitics of a Heist.
- Nation Thailand. (2022, January 26). Chalor Kerdthes and the Blue Diamond Affair.
- Middiamonds.com. (2022). Saudi-Thai spat over Blue Diamond Affair resolved after 33 years.
- Time Archive. (1994). Thailand’s Blue Diamond Heist: Still a Sore Point.
- Reuters. (2022, January 25). Saudi Arabia and Thailand restore diplomatic ties after jewel dispute.
- YouTube. (2019). The Cursed Diamond: The Disturbing Horror Story.