Govt denies existence of mafia blacklist
THE authorities do not have a blacklist of mafia-style influential figures, but a nationwide operation to locate military-grade weapons will be launched, Deputy Prime Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan has said.
Prawit spoke yesterday in response to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha’s recent order for national security agencies to rid Thailand of influential figures in six months.
Prawit, who is also Defence Minister, said he would discuss influential figures using military-grade weapons with the Defence Ministry, the Interior Ministry, the Royal Thai Police and National Council for Peace and Order.
He denied having a specific location.
At a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Prayut gave the six-month deadline for related authorities to rid the country of mafia-style influential figures – be they politicians, soldiers, police or bureaucrats.
Prayut highlighted a case in which a woman’s house in Pathum Thani’s Thanyaburi district was fired at by suspected loan-shark debt-collectors on Sunday. No one was hurt in the attack.
The vendor, 56, said yesterday she lived in fear and it seemed like not much progress had been made in the investigation into the incident. She had borrowed a total of Bt15,000 from three loan sharks.
Police have a patrol presence in front of her home, but she said she has rarely seen officers there.
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