Section 142: Interfering with seized property
Statutory text (Thai original)
ผู้ใดทำให้เสียหาย ทำลาย ซ่อนเร้น เอาไปเสีย หรือทำให้สูญหาย หรือไร้ประโยชน์ซึ่งทรัพย์สิน หรือเอกสารใด ๆ อันเจ้าพนักงานได้ยึด รักษาไว้ หรือสั่งให้ส่งเพื่อเป็นพยานหลักฐาน หรือเพื่อบังคับการให้เป็นไปตามกฎหมาย ไม่ว่าเจ้าพนักงานจะรักษาทรัพย์หรือเอกสารนั้นไว้เอง หรือสั่งให้ผู้นั้นหรือผู้อื่น ส่งหรือรักษาไว้ก็ตาม ต้องระวางโทษจำคุกไม่เกินสามปี หรือปรับไม่เกินหกหมื่นบาท หรือทั้งจำทั้งปรับ หมายเหตุ: [อัตราโทษ แก้ไขเพิ่มเติมโดยมาตรา ๔ แห่งพระราชบัญญัติแก้ไขเพิ่มเติมประมวลกฎหมายอาญา (ฉบับที่ ๒๖) พ.ศ. ๒๕๖๐]
English translation
Whoever damages, destroys, conceals, takes away, or causes the loss of, or renders useless, any property or document that an official has seized, kept, or ordered to be delivered as evidence, or to enforce the law, whether the official keeps such property or document himself or has ordered that person or another to deliver or keep it, shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding three years, or a fine not exceeding sixty thousand baht, or both.
This English translation is provided for reference only and has not yet been firm-verified. Always rely on the Thai original.
Firm annotation
Section 142 protects property or documents that are under official control as evidence or for law enforcement, complementing Section 141, which protects the seal or mark rather than the thing itself. Its elements are: property or a document that an official has seized, kept, or ordered to be delivered, for the purpose of evidence or enforcement of the law, and conduct by the offender that damages, destroys, conceals, takes away, causes the loss of, or renders it useless. The offence applies regardless of who physically holds the item, whether the official keeps it, the offender was ordered to keep it, or a third party holds it. Its three-year ceiling is higher than Section 141 because the target is the substantive evidentiary or enforcement value of the item, not merely the marking.
Why this matters in practice
This charge commonly arises where a person disposes of, hides, or damages an item, such as a document or vehicle, that police or another authority have seized and kept as evidence, and it has been applied precisely to destroying or rendering useless documents held by an investigating officer as evidence. Exposure is up to three years. Importantly, it does not matter that the item was left in the accused's own possession for safekeeping; interfering with it is still an offence. In practice it is often charged alongside the substantive offence being investigated, so tampering with evidence can compound an existing case. Anyone told that property has been placed under official custody should treat it as untouchable. See criminal law in Thailand.
Supreme Court decisions interpreting this section
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 7139/2553 (2010)
Damaging, destroying, or rendering useless a document that an investigating officer has seized and kept as evidence is an offence under Section 142.
The defendant was charged under Sections 142 and 288 together with firearms offences. He pleaded guilty to, among other things, damaging, destroying, or rendering useless a document that the investigating officer had seized and kept as evidence, confirming that such conduct falls within Section 142.
Curated decisions with case numbers verified against the Supreme Court database. English renderings are the firm's editorial translation for study.
Cited in 20 Supreme Court decisions (1960 to 2018)
Selected citing decisions
- Decision 7504/2561 (2018)
- Decision 9567/2544 (2001)
- Decision 1392/2536 (1993)
- Decision 228/2534 (1991)
- Decision 3019/2531 (1988)
- Decision 2145/2531 (1988)
- Decision 3038/2530 (1987)
- Decision 3854/2525 (1982)
This list is selected automatically, weighted towards judgments that turn on this section rather than ones that merely recite it when passing sentence. It has not yet been reviewed by the firm.
Most often cited alongside
- Section 83 9
- Section 138 5
- Section 157 4
- Section 91 4
- Section 140 4
- Section 78 3
Sections that appear in the same judgments as this one most often. The figure is the number of decisions.
Counted across the firm's corpus of 83,652 Supreme Court decisions, 1921 to 2026. The count is complete; the stated year range trims rare outliers so it describes where the citations actually sit. These figures are computed by us and are not official court statistics. How we count these, and what we measured
Frequently asked questions
What is the penalty under Section 142?
Imprisonment not exceeding three years, or a fine not exceeding 60,000 baht, or both.
Does it matter who is holding the seized item?
No. The offence applies whether the official keeps the item, the accused was ordered to keep it, or a third party holds it.
Does destroying a document seized by police count?
Yes. Rendering useless or destroying a document that an investigating officer has seized and kept as evidence falls within Section 142.
Related guides on ThaiLawOnline
Cite this section
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Plain citation
Penal Code, s. 142 (Thailand) -
Academic citation
Penal Code (Thailand), s. 142. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-142/ (accessed 20 August 2026). -
Thai citation
ป.อ. มาตรา 142 -
Permalink
https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-142/ -
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<blockquote cite="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-142/"><p>Whoever damages, destroys, conceals, takes away, or causes the loss of, or renders useless, any property or document that an official has seized, kept, or ordered to be delivered as evidence, or to enforce the law, whether the official keeps such property or document himself…</p><footer>Penal Code, s. 142 (Thailand) — <a href="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-142/">ThaiLawOnline</a></footer></blockquote>
The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.