Four bodies have been found at a Jewish cemetery in Chachoengsao after more than 40 officials inspected the site, amid concerns three may have been buried after its permit expired.
The cemetery is in Moo 2 of tambon Samet Tai, Bang Kla district. A middle-aged foreign man who spoke Thai and represented a private company unlocked the gate for officials and residents. Photography inside was banned under religious rules, the company said, and journalists were kept out.
After about 20 minutes, officials confirmed four bodies had been found. Some said the burials looked recent and they could still smell preserving chemicals.
Samet Tai subdistrict head Nampueng Khamsa-ad, 39, said three graves were already covered with concrete and the fourth was not sealed, with stones laid ready for pouring. The bodies had been buried after the cemetery’s three-year permit expired and was not renewed, she said. A nameplate on one grave marked a death in November last year.
Ms Nampueng asked whether the bodies might have been brought in at night. The man who opened the gate was unfamiliar to locals and did not give his position in the company, she said.
Samet Tai Tambon Administrative Organisation (TAO) chief Kittipong Sileuang said the TAO would consider complaints under the Public Health Act 1992 and over the expired permit, and would have all four bodies removed. CCTV has been installed at the site.
Democrat list-MP Chaichana Detdecho called on the Interior Ministry to investigate Jewish community facilities in Bangkok and other tourist areas, including permits, land use and construction funds. He also sought scrutiny of reports that an Israeli national had taken Thai nationality and that a Chabad house had been set up in Bangkok’s Sukhumvit area.