Section 340/2: Gang-robbery of religious property
Statutory text (Thai original)
ถ้าการปล้นทรัพย์ได้กระทำต่อทรัพย์ตามมาตรา ๓๓๕ ทวิ วรรคแรก ผู้กระทำต้องระวางโทษจำคุกตั้งแต่สิบปีถึงยี่สิบปี และปรับตั้งแต่สองแสนบาทถึงสี่แสนบาท ถ้าการปล้นทรัพย์นั้นเป็นการกระทำในสถานที่ดังที่บัญญัติไว้ในมาตรา ๓๓๕ ทวิ วรรคสองด้วย ผู้กระทำต้องระวางโทษจำคุกตั้งแต่สิบห้าปีถึงยี่สิบปี และปรับตั้งแต่สามแสนบาทถึงสี่แสนบาท ถ้าการปล้นทรัพย์ตามวรรคแรกหรือวรรคสอง ผู้กระทำแม้แต่คนหนึ่งคนใดมีอาวุธติดตัวไปด้วย ผู้กระทำต้องระวางโทษจำคุกตลอดชีวิต หรือจำคุกตั้งแต่สิบห้าปีถึงยี่สิบปี ถ้าการปล้นทรัพย์ตามวรรคแรกหรือวรรคสองเป็นเหตุให้ผู้อื่นรับอันตรายสาหัส ผู้กระทำต้องระวางโทษจำคุกตลอดชีวิต ถ้าการปล้นทรัพย์ตามวรรคแรกหรือวรรคสองได้กระทำโดยแสดงความทารุณจนเป็นเหตุให้ผู้อื่นรับอันตรายแก่กายหรือจิตใจ ใช้ปืนยิง ใช้วัตถุระเบิดหรือกระทำทรมาน ผู้กระทำต้องระวางโทษประหารชีวิต หรือจำคุกตลอดชีวิต ถ้าการปล้นทรัพย์ตามวรรคแรกหรือวรรคสองเป็นเหตุให้ผู้อื่นถึงแก่ความตาย ผู้กระทำต้องระวางโทษประหารชีวิต หมายเหตุ: [อัตราโทษ แก้ไขเพิ่มเติมโดยมาตรา ๖ แห่งพระราชบัญญัติแก้ไขเพิ่มเติมประมวลกฎหมายอาญา (ฉบับที่ ๒๖) พ.ศ. ๒๕๖๐]
English translation
Where a gang robbery is committed against property described in Section 335 bis paragraph one, the offender shall be liable to imprisonment from ten to twenty years and a fine from two hundred thousand to four hundred thousand baht.
Where that gang robbery is also committed in a place described in Section 335 bis paragraph two, the offender shall be liable to imprisonment from fifteen to twenty years and a fine from three hundred thousand to four hundred thousand baht.
Where, in a gang robbery under paragraph one or paragraph two, any one of the offenders carries a weapon, the offender shall be liable to imprisonment for life, or to imprisonment from fifteen to twenty years.
Where a gang robbery under paragraph one or paragraph two causes grievous bodily harm, the offender shall be liable to imprisonment for life.
Where a gang robbery under paragraph one or paragraph two is committed with acts of cruelty causing harm to the body or mind of another person, by shooting with a gun, by using an explosive, or by torture, the offender shall be liable to death or to imprisonment for life.
Where a gang robbery under paragraph one or paragraph two causes the death of another person, the offender shall be liable to death.
ThaiLawOnline translation, written from the Thai original and verified
Firm annotation
Section 340 bis sits in Book II, Title XII, Chapter II, and is the gang-robbery counterpart to the theft and robbery provisions in Sections 335 bis and 339 bis. Gang-robbery, defined in Section 340, is robbery committed jointly by three or more persons; this section applies that offence to the same protected class of religious property and raises the penalties accordingly. The tiers escalate from the base offence, to the same act in a protected location, to a tier triggered where even a single member of the group is armed, and then by resulting harm: grievous bodily harm, acts of cruelty or the use of guns, explosives or torture, and finally death. It is read together with Section 340 ter, which adds a further one-half increase where the offence is carried out under a disguise, with firearms or explosives, or using a vehicle.
Why this matters in practice
This is one of the gravest offences in the Code, with a ten-year minimum at the base tier and death as the maximum. A distinctive feature is the armed-offender tier: it is enough that any one member of the group carries a weapon for every participant to face life imprisonment or fifteen to twenty years. Gang-robbery is a non-compoundable public offence prosecuted by the state, and Section 340 ter can raise the penalty by a further one half. Given the exposure, anyone implicated should speak with a Thai lawyer immediately.
Cited in 17 Supreme Court decisions (1972 to 2020)
Selected citing decisions
- Decision 4337/2552 (2009)
- Decision 3053/2531 (1988)
- Decision 2226/2531 (1988)
- Decision 157-158/2520 (1977)
- Decision 1577/2518 (1975)
- Decision 2161/2531 (1988)
- Decision 16/2515 (1972)
- Decision 12/2515 (1972)
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 16
- Section 340 16
- Section 340/3 12
- Section 78 10
- Section 339 8
- Section 91 6
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 counts as gang-robbery under Section 340/2?
Gang-robbery is robbery committed jointly by three or more persons, as defined in Section 340. Section 340 bis applies where the property taken is a Buddha image, religious object, or national heritage protected under Section 335 bis, and imposes higher penalties starting at ten to twenty years' imprisonment.
Does everyone face a heavier penalty if only one member is armed?
Yes. Under paragraph three, if even one of the offenders carries a weapon, the enhanced tier of life imprisonment or fifteen to twenty years applies to the offenders, reflecting the joint nature of gang-robbery.
Related guides on ThaiLawOnline
Cite this section
-
Plain citation
Penal Code, s. 340/2 (Thailand) -
Academic citation
Penal Code (Thailand), s. 340/2. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-340-2/ (accessed 17 August 2026). -
Thai citation
ป.อ. มาตรา 340/2 -
Permalink
https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-340-2/ -
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<blockquote cite="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-340-2/"><p>Where a gang robbery is committed against property described in Section 335 bis paragraph one, the offender shall be liable to imprisonment from ten to twenty years and a fine from two hundred thousand to four hundred thousand baht. Where that gang robbery is also…</p><footer>Penal Code, s. 340/2 (Thailand) — <a href="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-340-2/">ThaiLawOnline</a></footer></blockquote>
The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.