Gold Fever Grips Thailand

B A N G K O K, Thailand, April 13 -- Gold fever swept Thailand today after a controversial politician said a vast hoard of treasure hidden by Japanese troops during World War Two hadbeen found in a cave and could help solve the country'seconomic woes.

Senator Chaowarin Latthasaksiri, often mocked for his longhunt for the fabled Japanese booty, said hundreds of tons oftreasure, including two tons of gold, were found packed intrain carriages hidden in the remote Liijia cave nearKanchanaburi, close to Thailand's western border with Burma (also known as Myanmar).

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra took the story seriouslyenough to fly to the cave by helicopter to meet Chaowarin.

Newspapers made light of Latthasaksiri's story. The senator hasmade similar claims before — in 1995 he said he had found thelocation of the fabled Japanese gold, but it proved to be afalse alarm. Rumors of the hoard have lured thousands oftreasure hunters but the tale has usually been dismissed as amyth.

"'Mad' senator cries banzai! — again," was the headline intoday's Nation daily.

‘I’m Not Mad’

But Shinawatra , who visited the entrance to the cave and sawphotographs said to show the stash of treasure hidden deepwithin, said there was no reason to disbelieve Chaowarin.

"I believe his story of what he has found is genuine but Idon't know whether this treasure is still valuable," Thaksintold reporters. He said that if real, the stash could be worth"tens of billions of baht" (hundreds of millions of dollars).

Chaowarin said he would meet Thailand's king on Tuesday topresent his findings, and would hold a news conference onWednesday to give full details to the public.

"It proves that I'm not mad. People have said I'm insane,"the Nation quoted Chaowarin as saying. He said the discoverywould be the property of the nation and would help Thailand payoff its hefty national debt and recover from economic crisis.

An Army in Retreat

Tales have long been told in Thailand that the departingJapanese Imperial Army left vast riches hidden in the countryas it retreated from Burma in 1945.