Top cops under probe for not closing gambling house
Five top officers at Bangkok’s Lat Krabang Police Station were transferred following Friday’s bust of a gambling den in Soi Lat Krabang 2 by the Army that led to the arrest of 96 punters – 72 Thais, 21 Cambodians and three Vietnamese – and the seizure of Bt121,000, said city police chief Lt-General Sanit Mahathaworn yesterday.
Sanit said Metropolitan Police Area 3 acting chief Colonel Somneuk Noikhong ordered the transfer of Lat Krabang superintendent Colonel Sarawuth Siri along with four Lt-Colonels – Phuwanai Senawuthi, Sayan Phetchyeunyong, Suchat Mongkonpipat and Thatpong Jitbanjong – to the Metropolitan Police Area 3 operation centre.
Sanit said Somneuk’s deputy would served as Lat Krabang Police Station’s caretaker superintendent while a fact-finding committee investigated whether the officers had neglected their duties by not closing down the gambling den.
The arrested punters were brought to Min Buri Court yesterday.
A judge sentenced Cambodian man Koi Son, who admitted to running the den, to two months in prison and fined the 72 Thai punters Bt1,000 each and the foreign punters Bt5,000 each.