Police officer involved in Friday’s drama was being treated in Chiang Mai for depression and is now being investigated by police authorities there. Separately on Monday, the destructive powers of ya ice were again on display as Bangkok police showed off a huge 459 kg haul which led in recent days to the arrest of four drug traffickers. The huge drugs bust has also put elite Thai police officers from the narcotics suppression unit, on the scent of a southern political figure believed to be the mastermind and financier of the shipment.
A senior Thai police officer from Lampang province staying in Bangkok for a few days saw his livelihood, career and freedom taken from him in minutes this week by making loud noises and disconcerting his neighbours at a building of flats in the centre of Bangkok. After being questioned over the weekend by local police, the officer was driven away in a prison van and into the custody of a criminal court in Bangkok. The incident has sparked a range of investigations including one into the officer’s superiors.
Loud noises at a flat in a western central district of Bangkok could have been responsible for the downfall of a senior police officer from Lampang province in northern Thailand who sources say did have a bad official record. Over the weekend, Police Major General Achan Nantrakul found himself being interrogated at Wat Phraya Krai police station in the Thai capital before eventually being driven off in a prisoner van on Saturday. He is now being held in the custody of the South Bangkok Criminal Court.
This came about after local police were called to investigate reports of excessive noise at a Bangkok building of flats on Friday. Worried tenants had contacted the police station after becoming alarmed at noises emanating from the room in which the man was staying.
Bangkok police found the northern officer in a heightened state of anxiety after they knocked
Investigating Bangkok police officers found a man at the scene in a heightened state of anxiety when they knocked at the door. The policemen were obliged to assist him to gather his senses when they entered the flat. Within the room, they discovered two plastic bags of ice or crystal methamphetamine. They also found sedatives and pills to treat depression properly prescribed by a psychiatric hospital in Chiang Mai.
Lampang senior policeman taken in for questioning
The senior police officer was arrested at the scene and taken in for questioning. It has emerged that he was staying at the flat in Bangkok as he was visiting the capital in search of a loan from the Police Saving Cooperative. The flat is in Bang Kho Laem area.
Arrested for possession of illicit ya ice drug
Following his arrest after the discovery of illicit drugs, it has now been confirmed that the officer has been summarily dismissed from the Royal Thai police force. He is also being formally investigated by provincial authorities in Chiang Mai. This was confirmed over the weekend by a deputy police spokesman, Police Colonel Krissan Pattancharoen.
Catastrophic fall from grace
The dismissed police officer had a significant role with the Royal Thai police in Lampang province. He was the senior inspector assigned to Ban Euam police station in the Muang area of Lampang before Friday’s arrest and the man’s catastrophic fall from grace.
Investigation into oversight of the former officer
The spokesman for the police has confirmed that the Thai police chief General Chakthip Chaijinda, has ordered a separate investigation into the conduct of the police officer to focus on his superiors and a suspected failure to oversee and control the officer.
Man was suffering from depression and did not have a poor record before last Friday
It has emerged that Police Major Achan was suffering from depression. He has been under the care of the Suan Prung Psychiatric Hospital in the centre of Chiang Mai. Police investigators in Bangkok report that according to initial enquiries, the policeman did not have a prior poor record of conduct.
Huge haul of ya ice announced by senior police in Bangkok after an interception and 4 arrests
On Monday, in Bangkok, Thai police showed off a huge haul of ya ice or crystal methamphetamine drugs that officers seized in recent days in a Bangkok suburb. The drug consignment of 459 kilograms was taken along with the arrest of four drug traffickers in Bangkok and Songkhla province. Senior Royal Thai police officer Police General Chalermkiat Srivorakhan was among the policemen who briefed the media on an ongoing investigation following the drugs seizure which is now focusing on a bigger fish.
Mastermind now being targeted by a widening investigation is a southern politician
The police officers revealed that their investigations have to lead them to believe that the mastermind of the shipment is a politician in southern Thailand. They are now examining financial records in an attempt to positively expose and apprehend this individual. This could soon lead to an order for asset seizure and the freezing of the suspect’s bank accounts.
Last year quite a few kingpins handed down the death sentence in Thailand for drug dealing
Last year, a number of high profile drug kingpins received the death sentence in Thailand. The arrest of the drug lords occurred after police picked up their trail following the arrest of drug mules. The explosion of ya ice on the market in Thailand and the extent of human suffering caused by the drug has prompted Thai authorities to get tough in dealing with the facilitators at the top.
Not the first shipment financed by the political figure
It is believed that that this shipment was not the first financed and controlled by the political figure from the south. The shipment entered Thailand from Myanmar at the border crossing of Tachileik. The consignment was intended to supply the market in Songkhla and the south of the country.
Drugs intercepted in Bang Khun Thian district
Narcotics suppression police in Bangkok intercepted the shipment in a vehicle on the Kanchanaphisek Road in the south-west of the city in Bang Khun Thian district. Two drugs traffickers in the early thirties were arrested. They were named as 32-year-old Worawut Kraiwong and 33-year-old Angsuree Srikhamnuan.
Two further arrests at Songkhla petrol station
The arrests in Bangkok led to the arrests of two further men in Songkhla province who were waiting at a petrol station located at Lop Ramet in Songkhla for the huge drugs consignment. Thai police arrested 51-year-old Pohsa Ding and another individual named as Korseng Nikoh.
Police now following the money trail
The Narcotics Suppression Board is now focusing on gathering evidence to positively identify and arrest the politician who is believed to have hired the drug runners and who financed the shipment in addition to others. They are hopeful that soon they will be in a position to make the arrest and take action using money laundering provisions against the politician who must be getting somewhat anxious as authorities close in.
Read a similar story where a Thai police captain in Nakhon Phanom was arrested for dealing drugs:
https://www.facebook.com/thaiexaminer/videos/1443417255815137/
