Premchai Karnasuta, the president of construction firm Italian-Thai Development who faces charges centred on illegal poaching in a Kanchanaburi wildlife sanctuary, appeared in Criminal Court in Bangkok on Monday on separate charges of smuggling and illegally possessing two pairs of tusks from African elephants.

Royal Thai Police deputy commissioner Pol General Srivara Rangsibrahmanakul on Tuesday insisted that police had not delayed their probe into construction tycoon Premchai Karnasuta and his three companions, who are accused of illegal hunting in Kanchanaburi’s Thung Yai Naresuan Sanctuary.