Police chief dismisses rumours about key burglary suspect
There are rumours that the key suspect in the burglary of Transport Ministry permanent secretary Suphoth Sublom's home last month is being protected by a personal security detail and is on the run in Laos.
Bangkok police chief Pol LtGeneral Winai Thongsong immediately dismissed this report, adding that talk of the alleged ringleader Weerasak Chuelee travelling freely in and out of Vietnam and China was unfounded.
“We found that these rumours about him are just not true,” he added. “There are so many rumours about him – that his movess are being financed and that he is being protected by bodyguards. We don’t know if these guards are Thai or Lao. These are just tipoffs.”
Asked what the police knew about Weerasak and his whereabouts, Winai said: “Nothing. We are working hard to locate him and want to arrest him at the soonest.”
The police chief said they had failed to locate Weerasak because coordinating with the Laos police was difficult.
Winai had earlier issued a statement saying that Weerasak was still alive and not “silenced” as rumoured.
The police chief said a witness might know about the suspect’s whereabouts and had been sent to Laos to update the police there. He again dismissed rumours that police knew about Weerasak fleeing to China.
A police team comprising 10 members has been mobilised from six Northeast provinces to jointly work with Laotian police to help locate Weerasak.
RELATED