PHUKET: Fraudsters have ripped off an investor who paid 400-500 million baht for a vast tract of land within Phuket's Sirinath National Park, the park's new director said today.

Kittipat Tharapiban said the falsified sale of the property indicated that action by the National Council for Peace and Order is needed quickly to restore parkland already sold or developed as private resorts to the public.

''Some of these cases could take decades to resolve through the courts,'' he said. ''Meanwhile, the private investors continue to make lots of money from misused parkland.''

In the latest case, Khun Kittipat said, the buyer of the Phuket parkland had accepted assurances from the seller that the chanote property title was legitimate because it came with an endorsement from the Forests Department.

''The Forests Department have nothing to do with Sirinath National Park,'' he said. ''We would recommend that anyone who is offered a title to land on the border of the park comes to see us first.''

Khun Kittipat's predecessor, Cheewapad Cheewatam, asked to be transferred out of the Phuket job in May because he said he faced threats and intimidation from people involved in the disputes over resorts allegedly constructed inside the park.

Khun Kittipat said he'd had no threats so far, but it was early yet in his tenure.

He is hoping that the coup command will intervene but if some of the disputes are already before courts, the military may not wish to be seen to interfere with the courts' role.