Probe into Khon Kaen raid after police deny taking cash, gamblers
A FACT-FINDING probe is underway into a raid on a Khon Kaen gambling den last week by soldiers, who say they handed over a large amount of cash and many cars pawned by gamblers to local police. Police claim they never received them.
Acting Police Region 4 chief Lt-General Dejnarong Sutthicharn-bancha said yesterday that the probe, which he ordered, began last Saturday, but was not regarded as an investigation yet.
A senior Army commander met with a police commander yesterday at the Police Region 4 headquarters to talk, but they did not give details of the issues discussed when they left.
Nong Rua police in Khon Kaen has been under fire after news reports published photos of the soldiers, from a taskforce under 23rd Army subregion command in Fort Sri Phatcharin, arresting 37 gamblers and parading Bt310,000 in cash on a gaming table in the den after the raid last Wednesday.
Nong Rua Police claim they have no record of the 37 gamblers arrested, or the Bt310,000 cash and 20 cars gamblers pawned to the den operators.
Colonel Jaturaphong Bokbon, a deputy head of the provincial Internal Security Operations Command office, said soldiers were very careful in performing their duties under guidance of the National Council for Peace and Order, because of “attempts” to create cracks between police and military officers who jointly carry out the NCPO-imposed crackdown on illegal activity, including encroachment on state land and forest reserves.
Lt-Colonel Phithakphol Choosri, the raid commander, yesterday showed reporters the log listing his mobile phone call to Pol Colonel Thanomsit Wongwijan, the Nong Rua police chief, on September 18, at 15.47, to inform the him of the raid and the arrests – and to ask him to claim the 37 suspects, the money and to take over the case.
Phithakphol later said he would stop giving interviews on the matter.
Standard operational procedures were followed in this case, he said, as in many previous joint raids by police and soldiers in Khon Kaen province. He said soldiers normally left the scene of raids when local police arrived and took over cases and arrests. He insisted that the gamblers, the money and keys to the 20 pawned cars were handed over to a police officer on duty on September 18.
However, Nong Rua police chief Thanomsit issued a statement on Monday saying his men had not been contacted prior to the raid, and that his men saw no arrests at the den when they arrived. He cited a claim by a subordinate, Pol Lieutenant Samrit Banthao, as saying that Samrit found military vehicles parked in front of the den, but an unnamed Army lieutenant colonel allegedly told Samrit nothing had happened and that he should leave. Based on Samrit’s observation, he found no illegal activity at the scene when the soldiers pulled out, Thanomsit said.