BANGKOK: -- National Police chief Pol General Priewpan Damapong yesterday proposed the construction of a prison on an island, especially for drug dealers as it would be easier to control and prevent them from continuing their drug dealing from behind bars.
Priewpan said he was discussing his idea with senior officials. The facility should be equipped with a phone signal blocking system. He revealed the idea during a press conference yesterday about three suspects in Pattani's Sai Buri district who were arrested in Samut Sakhon's Muang district. About 373,800 yaba tablets, five kilograms of crystal meth and 120 kratom leaves were seized from them.
Meanwhile, police will seek arrest warrants for two or three more suspects after Major Piyanat Ketchamrat, an official at the Engineering Battalion of the Region 3 Army who has been accused of being involved in drug crimes, reportedly confessed and implicated a few others.
Narcotics Suppression Bureau deputy chief Pol Maj-General Charnwet Sesawet said Major Piyanat had confessed to transporting the drugs and also gave other useful information. Police would secure arrest warrants for two or three others whom he had implicated for transporting drugs in the Northern and Central regions. Charnwet declined to give details.
He said Sgt-Major 1st class Venus Sijai, another accused official from the Engineering Battalion of the Region 3 Army, was still hiding in Thailand. Police would soon bring to court Major Piyanat, who reportedly had faced asset seizure in 2009 due to his involvement in drug crimes, and seek his detention on the charge of possessing drugs.
Pol Lt-General Wanthip Wongwai, the Region 3 Army commander, said that an initial probe by his office found that Major Piyanat had been arrested in 2009 in a drug case by the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) and Bt3 million worth of his assets were seized. However, the ONCB failed to report the matter to the Engineering Battalion of the Region 3 Army. As a result, Major Piyanat was able to continue working there. He said the Army would wait for the legal procedure to complete its course before taking action against Major Piyanat.
Police yesterday also brought Piyanat's accuser, Nipon Kanchat, to the Ratchadaphisek Criminal Court and sought a 12-day detention until February 7, while objecting to his bail on the ground that he was a flight risk. Nipon was arrested for allegedly storing billions of baht worth of narcotics at a Pathum Thani house he rented from a Thai actress.
Nipon's implication of a drug inmate in the Bang Kwang Prison led to a search of the prison cell on Thursday but no illegal things were found except a cellphone. The justice minister's secretary, Thirachai Wutthitham, said the ministry would probe further as some drug inmates were found to have 80 bank accounts. They also planned to have the Department of Special Investigation, the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission, the Anti-Money Laundering Office and the ONCB send special task force units to search drug inmates' cells in future.
As drug suspects often implicate inmates, ONCB chief Adul Saengsingkaew said he would next week discuss possible solutions with the Corrections Department and the Royal Thai Police, including blocking phone signals at prisons.
Meanwhile, Nakhon Sawan's Paknam Pho police officers engaged in a gunfight with a drug gang yesterday morning. One suspect was shot dead, two suspects were captured and two others fled the scene. The gang members, on two motorcycles, who were about to deliver 500 yaba tablets and 16 grams of ice to a customer, ran into a police truck, fled to a dead-end soi and fired at the police, according to provincial police chief Pol Maj-General Chantawit Ramasut.
In Phattalung's Ta Mot district, three drug suspects were arrested in a sting operation yesterday. Police seized 539 yaba tablets, 10 grams of ice, 200 bottles of cough syrup and kratom leaves.
In Khon Kaen's Muang district, police arrested a 30-year-old man while waiting to deliver 2,400 yaba tablets to a customer at 2.30am yesterday. He confessed to buying the drug from a Laotian.
In Bangkok, a team of 120 police officers yesterday raided five communities in Tao Poon and Bang Sue areas at 5.30am and arrested 14 drug suspects. They seized some yaba, crystal meth and drug-taking tools. The raids targeted the drug ring of Somchai "Ae Leuk" Iampaijit, a drug suspect who was shot dead earlier this week in a gunfight with police in Nonthaburi.
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