TO GO WITH AFP STORY “Thailand-south-unrest-rights-Britain,FOCUS’ by Aidan Jones This picture taken on March 2, 2010 shows a Thai soldier using a GT200 detector as he patrols the streets of Yala, in Thailand’s restive south. Human rights activists say more than 400 people have been locked up — some for up to two years — on the basis of spurious evidence gleaned by the device, which is at the centre of a British fraud probe and that experts say is useless. AFP PHOTO / AFP PHOTO / AFP

 

Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha told the Opposition today that the Ministry of Defence has already taken legal action against the local suppliers of the bogus bomb detectors, known as GT-200, seeking compensation estimated at about 747 million baht.

 

He was responding to a question raised, during the third day of the censure debate, by Move Forward MP Jirat Thongsuwan asking who or which organisation should be held accountable for the army’s procurement of the GT-200s from a British company between 2006 and 2009, in contracts worth several hundred million baht.

 

The prime minister said that 13 lawsuits had been filed against the local suppliers by the Defence Ministry and 5 have been concluded by the court, with 6 still in court and 2 others pending with the public prosecutors.

 

Full Story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/pm-says-legal-action-already-taken-against-local-supplier-of-fake-bomb-detectors/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2022-07-21

 

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it........never..........ends.

 

 

long after all the "commissions" have been paid

Selected facts:

 

Figures updated in 2016 claim that the Thai government spent 1.4 billion baht on the purchase of 1,358 devices between 2006 and 2010.

 

Even after the efficacy of the device was debunked by Thai and foreign scientists, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, then army chief, declared, "I affirm that the device is still effective."

 

The GT200 case was a unique scandal because the devices...seemed to fool only the people closely connected to their sale and purchase."

 

In total, 14 government agencies were duped into buying GT200s: the Central Institute of Forensic Science (!); Royal Thai Army Ordnance Department; Customs Department; Provincial Administration Department; Royal Thai Aide-De-Camp Department; Provincial Police of Sing Buri and Chai Nat; Songkhla Provincial Administration; Royal Thai Navy Security Centre; and five provinces: Phitsanulok, Phetchaburi, Phuket, Yala, and Sukhothai.

 

The head of Ava Satcom Ltd., the Thai company that sold eight GT200 devices to the Royal Thai Aide-De-Camp Department in 2008, was sentenced in September 2018 to nine years in prison and fined 18,000 baht. The purchase cost the government more than nine million baht. The week previously a court had sentenced him to 10 years in prison for selling GT200 devices to the army for 600 million baht. The judgements will be appealed on the grounds that the GT200s were imported on the orders of the military. The defense claims that army officers approached Ava Satcom with instructions, and specific specifications to buy, import, and resell 535 GT200s to the army.The military men involved have never been censured for their obvious gullibility and possible wrongdoing.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GT200

Surely the head of the Army at the time, needs to be held accountable for this?

 

????

8 minutes ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

Surely the head of the Army at the time, needs to be held accountable for this?

 

????

You mean Mr Teflon (nothing sticks) Chan Ocha who is never accountable or to blame for anything. Naaa - never gonna happen pal! Always someone else's fault. Like children in school - "it wasn't me sir, it was him/her/them!"

Pornthip Rojanasunand, Director of the Central Institute of Forensic Science, also defended the use of the GT200 devices, claiming that they were effective when searching for bombs and even nails under water. She said: "I do not feel embarrassed if the bomb detector is proven ineffective. Personally, I have never handled the device myself. But my people have used it and it is accurate every time. Long long time ago, people believed that the Earth is flat and anyone who said otherwise faced execution. Things which are not visible does not necessarily mean they do not exist. The devices are there and no one has the right to ban their use. I will continue to use it."

 

???? what a ????

 

Sold as novelty golf ball finders in the British tabloid papers. ????

5 hours ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

Surely the head of the Army at the time, needs to be held accountable for this?

 

????

Do you understand how Thailand works?

 

Money and power are NEVER held accountable for anything.

7 hours ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

Pornthip Rojanasunand, Director of the Central Institute of Forensic Science, also defended the use of the GT200 devices, claiming that they were effective when searching for bombs and even nails under water. She said: "I do not feel embarrassed if the bomb detector is proven ineffective. Personally, I have never handled the device myself. But my people have used it and it is accurate every time. Long long time ago, people believed that the Earth is flat and anyone who said otherwise faced execution. Things which are not visible does not necessarily mean they do not exist. The devices are there and no one has the right to ban their use. I will continue to use it."

 

???? what a ????

Trying to saving face as they dig the hole even deeper ????????

Surely yhr obvious

11 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Human rights activists say more than 400 people have been locked up — some for up to two years — on the basis of spurious evidence gleaned by the device, which is at the centre of a British fraud probe and that experts say is useless.

Can someone explain to me how you can be locked up for two years on evidence 'found' with fake bomb detectors ? Sure if they are fake they do not pick up anything ? And if they did, they work.

 

And if they were locked up on evidence found at their houses after they found fake evidence, should that really matter ? 

Were these bomb detectors made in China?

McCormick was jailed for 10 years last year and others followed - 47-year-old businessman Gary Bolton was convicted last August, Samuel Tree will now spend three and a half years in jail, while his wife received a suspended sentence. The Bedfordshire couple bought cheap plastic parts from China and assembled the devices in a shed in their back garden. Courtesy of the BBC in their 2014 report. I would assume all are released by now and enjoying live.

maybe they can use the ballon ship they bought to locate the bombs?

Well i am sure it will stick with guilty sticker when he step down from his seats. And why do you think he is trying so hard to stay? 

Home of counterfeit products,Thailand has now had the tables turned on itself....Still it will help the govt "eliminate the frustration of finding their lost balls"albeit it's cost them a bomb.

Anyone for golf????????????

11 hours ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

Surely the head of the Army at the time, needs to be held accountable for this?

 

????

Wonder who that might be?:-

 

"Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, then army chief, declared, "I affirm that the device is still effective."

...and the same bunch is now running the country...
What a JOKE! ????

11 hours ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

The GT200 case was a unique scandal because the devices...seemed to fool only the people closely connected to their sale and purchase."

Only because they wanted to be fooled.  Local suppliers were charged with being the low-hanging fruit; none of the military decisionmakers have faced the music.

Better double check the subs, aircraft carrier etc

2 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

Surely yhr obvious

Can someone explain to me how you can be locked up for two years on evidence 'found' with fake bomb detectors ? Sure if they are fake they do not pick up anything ? And if they did, they work.

 

And if they were locked up on evidence found at their houses after they found fake evidence, should that really matter ? 

Human rights activist is a euphenism for someone with a militant, usually radical, political view on the issue at hand.  If the first human right is the right to life, as opposed tot eh right to kill, then these activists should be keen on finding bombs and not supporting bombers. 

That's outrageous. 

14 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha told the Opposition today that the Ministry of Defence has already taken legal action against the local suppliers of the bogus bomb detectors, known as GT-200, seeking compensation estimated at about 747 million baht.

And any action against the idiots responsible for purchasing them?

Thought not.

2 hours ago, koolkarl said:

Were these bomb detectors made in China?

 

14 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

for the army’s procurement of the GT-200s from a British company between 2006 and 2009, in contracts worth several hundred million baht.

Evidently not.

1 hour ago, kcpattaya said:

...and the same bunch is now running the country...
What a JOKE! ????

It's a very sick joke. A bunch of obvious crooks and liars have been in charge now since 2014. And people still take their pronouncements, edicts, and laws at face-value..

 

*Twilight Zone theme tune playing*

28 minutes ago, SamuiFan said:

That's outrageous. 

The outrage continued with the army spending more than 7 M Baht to hire the National Science and technology Development Agency to test the 700 GT200. Already fake but wait, the army still want to spend 7 M to determine whether they work. The devices were just 2 pieces of plastic glued together with an antenna attached and no internal mechanism or battery. Anyone can test with just a screwdriver without need to pay 10,000 baht a piece said Rangsiman of MF Party and he was so right. 

1 hour ago, cnx101 said:

Better double check the subs, aircraft carrier etc

all will be supplied without engines 555

Prayuths fingers were truly in that purchasing pie.

I seem to remember his defending how good they worked when the scam first broke.

was it a scam or is the ignorance and stupidity level of the military just an easy target.

The real horror of this story is that soldiers were sent onto active service in guerrilla territory and placed their faith in their superiors and the efficacy of this thing to save their's and other's lives and protect them.

I suspect they have no figures about how many paid with their lives for this ridiculous fraud.

While it's good to have a go at the stupidity of the people who purchased these items let's  not forget that three British Government departments promoted the GT200 for sales abroad when the Home Office knew they were useless.