Five cops sacked after 1m speed pill bust

NAN: Five officers from a police station in Nan province, including the station chief, have been fired after being arrested for smuggling 1 million speed pills.

Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yubamrung, left, questions one of three drug suspects during a press conference yesterday. The three were caught with 500,000 methamphetamine pills and 50kg of crystal methamphetamine in Pathum Thani province on Wednesday. APICHART JINAKUL

The five officers – Pol Lt Col Thammanoon Nakbua, chief of Ouan police station; Pol Sub Lt Jittipong Sochai, deputy crime suppression investigation chief; Pol Snr Sgt Maj Nonthawat Pansa; Pol Snr Sgt Maj Atthapol Khamsaen; and Pol Snr Sgt Maj Sakkapong Chiangnoon – were fired from the police service on the spot, Pol Maj Gen Chamnan Ruadriew, deputy chief of Police Region 5, said.

A committee has been set up to investigate the five officers and their immediate superior.

The five will face serious disciplinary and criminal action, Pol Maj Gen Chamnan said yesterday.

The officers were allegedly caught red-handed in a car park at the Riverview Place Hotel on Uthong Road in Ayutthaya province on Thursday following a search of all the vehicles by anti-narcotics police. One million speed pills were found hidden in a police patrol car and a Toyota pickup truck containing the five officers.

The five allegedly confessed they had been hired for 2 million baht by a drug trafficker in Chiang Rai to deliver the pills to a customer in the hotel car park.

A source said Pol Sub Lt Jittipong had been involved with a major drug trafficking gang in Chiang Mai while serving as a border patrol officer. He was recently transferred to Ouan police station and had persuaded the station chief and the three other officers to smuggle drugs, said the source.

Meanwhile, police have seized 500,000 methamphetamine pills and 50kg of crystal methamphetamine with an estimated value of 250 million baht in Pathum Thani. Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yubamrung yesterday said Office of the Narcotic Control Board officers arrested Chatchai Charnpookiaw, 31, Kongsak Woomare, 22, and Siewyi Sae-Chen, 24, a Chinese national, for illegal drug possession and distribution following a raid on a building in Lam Luk Ka district on Wednesday.

The arrests followed a tip-off that a large amount of drugs was being transported to Bangkok.

Source: http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/crimes/326253/five-cops-sacked-after-1m-speed-pill-bust