Drugs showdown in the works bound to prompt memories of decisive 2003 crackdown by Thaksin

[webfact]

Last week the permanent secretary at the Ministry of the Interior Mr Suthipong Chulacharoen and the National Police Commissioner General Damrongsak Kittiprapat gave a press conference after a high-level meeting where a forthcoming drug crackdown was discussed 

 

by Joseph O' Connor

 

The current campaign as well as being a response to Nong Bua Lamphu also comes after demands from other provinces around the country including Krabi where drug-related violence and killings have undermined local security and confidence in the rule of law as the country reaches a limit in its tolerance with huge quantities of methamphetamine linked drugs flowing into the kingdom from beyond Thailand’s borders in the Golden Triangle.

 

On January 28th 2003, then Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra signed order 30-31/2546 setting up a co-ordination centre headed by then Deputy Prime Minister General Chawalit Yongchaiyudh which waged a ferocious three-month ‘war on drugs’ in a campaign during which tens of thousands were detained while thousands are thought to have lost their lives. It was an act that helped burnish the former PM’s popularity and reputation for getting things done by tackling problems head-on but one which also marred his period in office with difficult questions being asked to this day about human rights violations and abuses.

Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan ocha has told the National Police Commissioner General Damrongsak Kittiprapat that suppressing drugs was a key ‘national issue’ as security agencies and the Ministry of Public Health, in a campaign coordinated by the Ministry of the Interior, prepare to launch a national crackdown on drugs which, among other things, will see addicts taken into care on an area by area basis.

 

The planned campaign, for which October 31st is the deadline for local intelligence, is bound to resurrect memories of the 2003 three-month onslaught pushed by former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra that year in which thousands were detained and killed while hundreds of government officials and police officers were arrested and prosecuted for colluding with drug gangs. The current campaign is being seen as a response to the massacre of 36 people including 24 children on October 7th by a crazed former police officer with a history of drug problems.

 

Full story: https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/10/17/drugs-crackdown-planned-memories-of-thaksin-2003/

 

-- © Copyright Thai Examiner 2022-10-17

 

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[Bluespunk]

1 minute ago, webfact said:

It was an act that

led to extra judicial killings of drug users, low level dealers and the deaths of many not involved in the drugs trade.

[lujanit]

1 hour ago, Bluespunk said:

led to extra judicial killings of drug users, low level dealers and the deaths of many not involved in the drugs trade.

and not a single kingpin was even arrested let alone charged, convicted and spent time in Jail.  Too many 'kingpins' are members of the RTP and the military.

[Orinoco]

There we go the first Thaksin thread of the week.

Will we make 4 this week ?

 

[VillageIdiot]

21 minutes ago, Orinoco said:

There we go the first Thaksin thread of the week.

Will we make 4 this week ?

 

His photos are looking younger as well.

[connda]

1 hour ago, Bluespunk said:

led to extra judicial killings of drug users, low level dealers and the deaths of many not involved in the drugs trade.

It was OK to summarily execute 'suspected drug dealer' in the name of the war on drugs.
That in itself is the definition of insanity.

Drugs Kill!  So do overzealous cops with guns.

[bigupandchill]

Did anybody bother to check if the 2003 'crackdown' actually reduced the problems caused by this type of drug taking?

[PremiumLane]

It is like the episode of the Office when Jim says that Dwight finding drugs is more dangerous than most people using drugs. 

[2baht]

4 hours ago, VillageIdiot said:

His photos are looking younger as well.

Don't be fooled by the hair dye! He's really got grey hair!

[PETERTHEEATER]

5 hours ago, Orinoco said:

There we go the first Thaksin thread of the week.

Will we make 4 this week ?

 

Yes. here you are .....TAKSIN.

[Orinoco]

41 minutes ago, PETERTHEEATER said:

Yes. here you are .....TAKSIN.

Say Wot m8

[herfiehandbag]

5 hours ago, VillageIdiot said:

His photos are looking younger as well.

He is not the only one, especially in the realm of large public portraits. Shades of Dorian Grey!

[MrJ2U]

8 hours ago, bigupandchill said:

Did anybody bother to check if the 2003 'crackdown' actually reduced the problems caused by this type of drug taking?

Yes.

 

Thailand never had a drug problem again. 

[VillageIdiot]

5 hours ago, 2baht said:

Don't be fooled by the hair dye! He's really got grey hair!

The hair is just fine, thank you.

Now, we need to get those eyes debagged.

[hotchilli]

19 hours ago, webfact said:

The current campaign as well as being a response to Nong Bua Lamphu also comes after demands from other provinces around the country including Krabi where drug-related violence and killings have undermined local security and confidence in the rule of law as the country reaches a limit in its tolerance with huge quantities of methamphetamine linked drugs flowing into the kingdom from beyond Thailand’s borders in the Golden Triangle.

It will only end when they start jailing the kingpins, bent officials and influential people.

nailing only the drivers does nothing.

Plus transparency on what happens to the "confiscated drugs" needs some attention.

[MrJ2U]

Crackdown just before the upcoming elections.

 

Longtime coming.   

 

I wonder how Thamanat Prompow, convicted heroine smuggler who's running for office thinks of the drug crackdown.?

 

 

 

 

[MrMojoRisin]

On 10/17/2022 at 12:32 PM, webfact said:

while thousands are thought to have lost their lives.

thought….

 

Hmmm, why would the journalist choose this particular word in this particular phrase?