"Joe Ferrari" former police chief has 29 cars - many luxury supercars and sports models - on a 43K salary

[DaveE13]

8 minutes ago, Dogmatix said:

When I was a teenager in Edinburgh I knew a slightly older guy who got arrested for possession of cannabis.  I can't remember the details but he was really worried because the amount he had was just over the amount that would have been considered dealing and liable for a custodial sentance. But when they asked him to acknowledge the charge he was surprised to find that 75% of his stash had disappeared and he was only fined.  The drug squad was known to be completely corrupt, although they didn't use plastic bags on suspects to my knowledge.  But they were obviously doing the same thing on a regular basis and selling the surplus dope back into the market and allegedly consuming some of it themselves too.   

 

If that kind of nonsense can go on in relative rule of law jurisdictions, I would say the sky is the limit in Thailand.  The product that is consigned for destruction must be small proportion of what is actually seized.  In cases like this one where cops were intending the let the suspects off with an informal fine, they would obviously have taken the comoplete haul for re-sale.  I would guess that all drug squads in Thailand are doing the same thing.   

This happened in London back in the 80s I think.  Serious crime squad out of Stamford Hill were raiding the crack houses around the Hackney area taking part of their money and drugs. 

It brought down the whole crime unit down.

[Thunglom]

After first coming to Thailand in 1994 I was amazed not just at the all-pervasive nature of corruption, but at it's blatancy. Nearly 30 years on and nothing has changed - in particular the system of government.

[DBath]

33 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

I've always said these huge drugs busts are distributed among the ranks.

It finds it's way back onto the streets and the money into greedy pockets.

I agree…and I believe in many cases cops are even complicit. The last thing they want is for drug dealers to go out of business; that would be the end of their cash cow. 

[DaveE13]

1 minute ago, JAS21 said:

Seems the mid-understanding has been cleared up and he has given himself up … been taken to a safe house!

I wonder if he will start grassing up higher ups.

[Merlindxb]

29 + car's must be over 50Mil alone + properties encl Condo's & millionaire life style,  around 20 years of amassing a fortune, some of that I got from the the wife as its on Thai net and that is the point "it is on the Thai net" freely available, so HE has to pay as well and we will soon know to who when the music stops.  Everybody "KNEW" he was on the take ? so, why has his boss dobbed him in,

[Dogmatix]

3 hours ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

Was he the head of police in Nakhon Sawan or the local drug syndicate? 

For sure he was involved in drug dealing and probably all or  most Thai drug squads are.  They don't have to run syndicates themselves. They just seize product from unaffiliated gangs and sell it on one of the gangs that are paying them to operate with impunity. Those gangs recruit small fry as dealers and couriers and shop 1 in 10 or so to the cops to get busted. So the cops have an easy life and act as middle men transferring drugs from one gang to another. 

 

In tourist spots like Koh Tao the cops allegedly do deal in drugs themselves. They sell to naive farang business owners, who are not doing well,  to sell to their customers and then come along and bust them and get the product back for re-sale to some other mug. 

[2long]

Thai news says they have caught him in Burma.

????????????????????????????????????????

[HAPPYNUFF]

Give the poor (?) man a chance to explain, I bet when all is revealed we will find  his ever loving mummy took in washing, while he  collected and sold used bottles to supplement  the  measly police pay. I mean  Thai Police, also known as the brown slime,  be corrupt???heavens  to bettsy.

[Thunglom]

3 minutes ago, DaveE13 said:

This happened in London back in the 80s I think.  Serious crime squad out of Stamford Hill were raiding the crack houses around the Hackney area taking part of their money and drugs. 

It brought down the whole crime unit down.

People often make the mistake of comparing corruption in Thailand with that of other countries - in particular their home country. 

In reality it is quite different. 

The nature of corruption and the inherent tolerance of it is almost unique to Thailand and has its roots embedded deep in Thai history. It manifests in ways that ae similar to there countries and has a devastating effect on both effective government and the economy but don't mistake it for the same animal as back home - wherever that may be.

[DaveE13]

2 minutes ago, Thunglom said:

People often make the mistake of comparing corruption in Thailand with that of other countries - in particular their home country. 

In reality it is quite different. 

The nature of corruption and the inherent tolerance of it is almost unique to Thailand and has its roots embedded deep in Thai history. It manifests in ways that ae similar to there countries and has a devastating effect on both effective government and the economy but don't mistake it for the same animal as back home - wherever that may be.

I agree with what you say.  Not really comparing. 

[dunroaming]

7 hours ago, MrJ2U said:

What a show off.

 

He's pretty young also.  I wonder how he even got that position so fast?

 

It takes some to aquire and accumulate all this wealth and cars.

 

There's got to be SO many people involved!

 

No way this would go unnoticed.

Usual way to get promotion within the police is to buy it (allegedly).  Certainly the way it worked for my wife's relatives.  The higher the rank the thicker the brown envelopes.

[geisha]

The cars could have been “confiscated” from dealers as payment ?

[BobBKK]

He was unlucky to get caught - what does that tell you?  who is his boss?  etc. etc.

[BobBKK]

13 minutes ago, DaveE13 said:

This happened in London back in the 80s I think.  Serious crime squad out of Stamford Hill were raiding the crack houses around the Hackney area taking part of their money and drugs. 

It brought down the whole crime unit down.

That was in isolation and the 80s - this is now and it is endemic in the culture - at every level.

[rudi49jr]

And everybody knew that he had that mansion and all those expensive cars, and no one bothered to ask how he could afford all that? I would really like to know who he paid off to be left in peace and continue to do what he was doing, but I’m sure we’ll never know.

Hopefully police chiefs (and other crazy rich so-called ‘civil servants’) all over Thailand are getting more than a little worried now. But the system of corruption is so deeply rooted in Thai society and also mentality that I doubt very much things will change any time soon. Too many big fish have too much to lose.

[DaveE13]

4 minutes ago, BobBKK said:

That was in isolation and the 80s - this is now and it is endemic in the culture - at every level.

Yes it was and shocked alot of the public at the time.

Don't get me wrong I'm not trying to compare. It was just something I remembered.

As you say its endemic in this culture. 

[HaoleBoy]

The Customs Dept Director-General came out to protect Pol-Colonel Thitisan by saying he "helped seize" illegal cars.  The sale of these cars earned him 400 million THB.

 

All but 5 of the cars were sold thus why did he have them on his property still?  The coverup is starting ... 

[tomacht8]

3 hours ago, rupert the bear said:

audit needs to be done on all senior cops and the politicians,in fact post their bank balances on the net as i feel now thais generally would approve such a move and  the info is there and  available,post it on the walls of the nation, time to clean the toilet

It would be easy to find inexplicable wealth among many. There is a lot of data yes, but not all. E.g. there is unfortunately no central land ownership register. It is amazing how many officials from all districts of Thailand own in the tourist places prime beach resorts, discos, go-go bars, hotels and large areas of land.

[DaveE13]

3 minutes ago, HaoleBoy said:

The Customs Dept Director-General came out to protect Pol-Colonel Thitisan by saying he "helped seize" illegal cars.  The sale of these cars earned him 400 million THB.

 

All but 5 of the cars were sold thus why did he have them on his property still?  The coverup is starting ... 

It does doesn't it. 

[Dont confuse me]

Not so long ago it was discovered that a couple of cops from Chaingmai were selling police entrance exam answers for 300,000THB there were no shortage of takers.

You haven't got to be Sherlock Holmes to work out the only reason someone is going to pay that amount of money for a job where the starting salary is around 6,000THB a month is because they are confident they can recoup it and more!

One night I was with a friend a passenger in his truck without going into too much detail, we were stopped at a road block my friend who is fluent in Thai got out of his truck returned a few moments later informing me that the reason for the road block was because "they were looking for guns" he then produced a hand gum which he had just purchased from the police (which I assume they had confiscated earlier) for 3,000 THB.

Corruption within Thailand (not just police) is rife and is more or less accepted.

[hotchilli]

7 hours ago, kotsak said:

..and they've just found it out, right?!.. Bloody bar stuards..

 

Let's keep an eye for any corpse floating on Mekong any time soon..

I put money on his available funds he's already flown the nest... he's going to be another one who got away...

[hotchilli]

6 hours ago, Saltire said:

This story reminds me of the Netflix series Cocaine Cowboys, where two Cuban immigrants became both notorious, and ridiculously rich drug smugglers.

 

Their biggest problem was spending or laundering the tens of millions in cash. Let's buy one more car?

 

Joe Ferrari = King Pin or maybe assistant King Pin.

Reminds me of the Movie "American Made" with Tom cruise.

[ThailandRyan]

29 minutes ago, DaveE13 said:

I wonder if he will start grassing up higher ups.

You meant to say you wonder when he will be gassed by the higher ups right?

[hanuman2543]

2 hours ago, anchadian said:

Lamborghini, Porsche, Bentley all part of wanted Nakhon Sawan cop’s fleet of cars

 

The Customs Department said on Wednesday that Pol Colonel Thitisan Uthanapol had helped seize 368 illegal cars since 2011 and should have earned some 400 million for his work.

 

 

https://www.nationthailand.com/in-focus/40005301

Where can I hand in my job application?

[anchadian]

1 hour ago, anchadian said:

Police Colonel Thitisan Utthanaphon, wanted for the murder of a drug suspect, has turned himself in. He has been taken to a safe house #ผู้กำกับโจ้ #Thailand

 

https://www.khaosod.co.th/breaking-news/news_6585239 (Thai langue)

 

https://twitter.com/ThaiNewsReports/status/1430808735790686213

 

Local news said he was arrested in Myawaddy, Myanmar. The police have not confirmed anything yet.

 

https://twitter.com/ThaiEnquirer/status/1430820381061877764

 

[Thumbs]

This is Prayuts chance to clean house, how about his bosses? They have turned a blind eye at his disproportionate wealth 

[anchadian]

Latest news that the fugitive Nakhon Sawan police chief allegedly involved in the apparent deadly torture of a drug trafficking suspect being apprehended has *NOT* been confirmed by the Thai police yet.

 

https://twitter.com/SaksithCNA/status/1430828150032723981

 

[ThailandRyan]

4 minutes ago, anchadian said:

Latest news that the fugitive Nakhon Sawan police chief allegedly involved in the apparent deadly torture of a drug trafficking suspect being apprehended has *NOT* been confirmed by the Thai police yet.

 

https://twitter.com/SaksithCNA/status/1430828150032723981

 

Oh Shazam, has he done a David Copperfield, or was the misinformation done on purpose to give those searching time off, or will he be found having been accidently trampled by an elephant in the jungle somewhere.

[rudi49jr]

2 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

Oh Shazam, has hecdone a David Copperfield, or was the misinformation done on purpose, or will he be found having been accidently trampled by an elephant in the jungle somewhere.

I remember a line from an old movie called ‘Running scared’: “he accidentally stabbed himself in the back six times”. 

[millymoopoo]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

Later Sanook discovered an inventory of all the vehicles owned by the former chief of the Muang Nakhon Sawan police

Oh, how surprising..?

And I thought all police were honest, especially Royal Thai police.

Probably just a one off, couldn't possibly happen again in Thailand.............................