New DSI investigation team to take over 'men in black' case

The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) will take over the case involving five people accused of being the “men in black” who attacked troops in a notorious clash during the red-shirt protests in 2010, DSI chief Pol General Chatchawal Suksomjit said yesterday.

The five suspects – one of whom is a woman – are in police custody and face initial charges of possessing war weapons and explosives. The DSI has the job of compiling more evidence against the suspects, who are also accused of killing a senior army officer, then-Colonel Romklao Thuvatham. 

Chatchawal has promised to handle the case transparently and only complete it once he has all the evidence. 

A DSI source said the department already has records of the five people and relevant information implicating them, but no progress had been made so far. Things came to a standstill after former deputy PM Chalerm Yoobamrung, who oversaw the DSI board during the previous government, issued a statement denying the “men in black” even existed. 

Also, the previous team of DSI agents investigating the “men in black” controversially shifted their focus to former PM Abhisit Vejjajiva and his then-deputy Suthep Thaugsuban. This team has been completely replaced. 

Meanwhile, four male members of the “men in black” yesterday re-enacted their alleged crimes at Khok Wua intersection in Bangkok – the site of a bloody clash on April 10, 2010, between red-shirts and soldiers in which people from both sides were shot and killed by war weapons. At least two dozen were killed and hundreds injured.

According to the police-supervised re-enactment, the four detained men and the woman, plus three other men, travelled to Khok Wua in a van, disembarked at Wat Mahannap and walked down Tanao Road toward the intersection. 

Of the four suspects in detention, Chamnan Phakheechai and Kittisak Sumsri carried an M-16 assault rifle, while Preecha Yooyen carried an AK-47. Thammarat Sumsri, who is apparently dead now, carried an M-79 grenade launcher. The suspects recounted that they then stopped by a Government Savings Bank branch near the intersection and were let through a police checkpoint using the password “White Pigeon”.

Though police officers had tried to apprehend Thammarat, who was carrying an M-79 grenade launcher, they were overpowered by a large number of red-shirt protesters and the man managed to escape. 

Punika Choosri, the only female suspect in custody, said she was waiting in the van armed with a firebomb to use against hostile targets in case of emergency.

The suspects also showed how they allegedly fired at troops from different locations and later returned to the van, which headed for Din Sor Road. When the van was driving past an Army vehicle, Kittisak said he lowered his window and yelled profanities at the soldiers because he wanted them to remember his face. 

Pol General Somyot Poompan-moung, who will be the next national police chief, said that judging from the five suspects’ accounts and re-enactments, there should be many more people involved. 

Former deputy Democrat Party leader Thaworn Senniam said he was approached by four unnamed men in 2012 offering to volunteer information about their role in the 2010 protests in exchange for Bt10 million, but he turned them down. 

However, he said, he had to stay silent in order to keep his word about this.