Chonburi Police Commander Accused of Allegedly Extorting 140 Million Baht From Victims Over Online Gambling

[Purdey]

5 hours ago, OneZero said:

"Acceptance" of "inevitable" corruption, fostered by Thai "cultural patronage" (which starts at the top - the Very Top) is historically ingrained in the Thai social fabric.  A brief historical review of the sources of revenue generated by the "sin" industries (drugs, tobacco, alcohol, prostitution, etc) reveals the driving force behind so much of "Why" things are the way they still are, even today.  The following link is an excellent historical review of revenue generated by the drug trade.  Following the link I will copy some selected quotes.  Operation Paper: The United States and Drugs in Thailand and Burma | The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus (apjjf.org)    A few quotes:

 

The Origins of the CIA Drug Connection in Thailand 

To understand the CIA’s involvement in the Southeast Asian drug traffic after World War II, one must go back to nineteenth-century opium policies of the British Empire. Siamese government efforts to prohibit the smoking of opium ended in 1852, when King Mongkut (Rama IV), bowing to British pressures, established a Royal Opium Franchise, which was then farmed out to Siamese Chinese.⁹ Three years later, under the terms of the unequal Bowring Treaty, Siam accepted British opium free of duty, with the proviso that it was to be sold only to the Royal Franchise. (A year later, in 1856, a similar agreement was negotiated with the United States.) The opium farm became a source of wealth and power to the royal government and also to the Chinese secret societies or triads that operated it. Opium dependency also had the effect of easing Siam into the ways of Western capitalism by bringing “peasants into the cash economy as modern consumers.”¹⁰ 

Until it was finally abolished in 1959, proceeds from the Opium Franchise (as in other parts of Southeast Asia) provided up to 20 percent of Siamese government revenue.¹¹ This is one reason why the opium franchise ceased to be farmed out to Chinese businessmen in 1907 and became (as again in other parts of Southeast Asia) a government monopoly. Another was the desire to reduce the influence of Chinese secret societies and encourage Chinese assimilation into Siam. As a result, the power of the secret societies did generally decline in the twentieth century, except for a revival under the Japanese occupation during World War II. By this time the KMT, operating under cover, was the most powerful force in the Bangkok Chinese community, with overlapping links to Tai Li’s KMT intelligence network and also the drug traffic.¹² 

Although the official source of opium for the Siamese franchise was India, the relatively high cost of Indian opium encouraged more and more smuggling of opium from the Shan states of eastern Burma. With the gradual outlawing of the opium traffic in the early twentieth century, the British banned the use of Shan opium inside Burma but continued to tax the Shan states as before. In this way the British tacitly encouraged the export of Shan opium to the Thai market.¹³ 

When Thailand declared war against Britain in January 1942, Shan opium became the only source for the lucrative monopoly. This helps explain the 1942 invasion of the opium-producing Shan states by the Thai Northern (Prayap) army, in parallel to the Japanese expulsion of the British from Burma.¹⁴ In January 1943, as it became clearer that Japan would not win the war, the Thai premier Phibun Songkhram used the Northern Army in Kengtung, with its control of Shan opium, to open relations with the Chinese armies they had been fighting, which had by now retreated across the Yunnan–Burma frontier.¹⁵ One of these was the 93rd Division, at Meng Hai in the Thai Lü district of Sipsongphanna (Xishuangbanna) in Yunnan.¹⁶ The two sides, both engaged in the same lucrative opium traffic, quickly agreed to cease hostilities. (According to an Office of Strategic Services [OSS] observer, the warlord generals of Yunnan, Lung Yun, and his cousin Lu Han, commander of the 93rd Division, were busy smuggling opium from Yunnan across the border into Burma and Thailand.¹⁷) 

The Northern Army–93rd Division–KMT connection had enormous consequences. For the next three decades, Shan opium would be the source of revenue and power for the KMT in Burma and both the KMT and the Northern Army in Bangkok. All of Thailand’s military leaders between 1947 and 1975—Phin Chunhawan, his son-in-law Phao Sriyanon, Sarit Thanarat, Thanom Kittikachorn, Prapat Charusathien, and Kriangsak Chomanand—were officers from the Northern Army. Successively their regimes dominated and profited from the opium supplied by the KMT 93rd Division that after the war reestablished itself in Burma.²⁶ This was true from the military coup in Bangkok of November 1947 until Kriangsak’s resignation in 1980.²⁷ A series of coups d’état—in 1947, 1951, 1957, and 1975—can be analyzed in part as conflicts over control of the drug trade.²⁸ 

 

The CIA support for Phao began to wane in 1955–1956, especially after a staged BPP (Border Patrol Police) seizure of twenty tons of opium on the Thai border was exposed by a dramatic story in the Saturday Evening Post.¹⁴⁴ But the role of the BPP in the drug trade changed little, as is indicated in a recent report from the Asian Human Rights Commission in Hong Kong. Meanwhile, for at least seven years, the BPP would “capture” KMT opium in staged raids, and turn it over to the Thai Opium Monopoly. The “reward” for doing so, one-eighth the retail value, financed the BPP.¹⁴³ 

The police force that exists in Thailand today (written 2010) is for all intents and purposes the same one that was built by Pol. Gen. Phao Sriyanond in the 1950s. . . . It took on paramilitary functions through new special units, including the border police. It ran the drug trade, carried out abductions and killings with impunity, and was used as a political base for Phao and his associates. Successive attempts to reform the police, particularly from the 1970s onwards, have all met with failure despite almost universal acknowledgment that something must be done.¹⁴⁵ 

Thanks, very interesting. 

[Boyn]

How big does a brown envelope have to be to hold 140 million ?

[thailand49]

2 hours ago, brianthainess said:

Please enlighten me, what is the answer or is it forbidden

Dig a huge hole and fill it. 

[MrJ2U]

Legalize gambling.

 

These guys getting rich are the ones who oppose it. 

[metisdead]

An off topic post about the CIA Drug Connection in Thailand has been removed, it was in violation of fair use policy as well. 

[AustinRacing]

Oh well. They deserve the government they have and all the crook public servants. Unless the public grow a pair and hold them accountable this will go on and on. 

[JeffersLos]

13 hours ago, webfact said:

extorting 140 million baht from victims

 

Is that the queue for it? 

[pomchop]

How hard would it be to take a look at the assets acquired by most everyone (and their families) who came into contact with mr red bull and see how many of them now have increased assets a ton of $$, real estate. cars. etc.  All the way from the very top level to all the judges, investigators, cops, etc. who have lied and done nothing for almost a decade.

 

There is no other explanation for the fact that mr red bull managed to kill a cop while hopped up on cocaine and then manage to hide in plain site for nearly a decade.

 

The total tab that mr red bull daddy has paid seems to keep running higher and higher to try and reach the statue of limitations at which time the payments likely stop but in the meantime there are a lot of "officials" who have become wealthy beyond their wildest dreams . 

 

A bounty of a million baht or so to anyone who provided a current location of mr red bull would likely have resulted in his whereabouts being provided years ago.

 

Soon it appears we will have a new government but does anyone seriously think that suddenly all the people who have protected mr. red bull will be held accountable?

[cardinalblue]

17 hours ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

You have to play the game in order to rise to the top.

 

Thailand is no place for honest or moral people. From the bottom all the way to the top.

At the macro level, thailand is a dishonest culture

 

they know it and that is why the authorizes make it a big deal when a taxi driver returns a purse or wallet full of valuables..

 

see look at this…somehow these acts try to give the impression of washing away the corrosive and decaying skeleton of its core

 

 

[jacko45k]

That must be the type of xxxx that floats. 

[mikebell]

The Commander recently received an award on behalf of his force for reducing the number of accidents during the 7 Deadly Days.  These are the ONLY days when the police are visible in Pattaya.  They knock off early Friday until late Monday except for the unfortunate few who are used at night to raid previously warned clubs not to be doing anything naughty on Saturday night.

[Rimmer]

Off topic post has been removed

[spidermike007]

Love me, love me, love me, love me please. Show me the money. Money is my sacred calf. I claim to be a believer and to practice a "faith", but money is really my God, and my lifelong and spiritual quest. No other values really mean anything to me. Morality, ethics and being righteous and fair pale compared to money, gold, condos, new cars, overseas penthouses, and millions stashed overseas in hidden bank accounts. In this way I resemble my idols, men like Prayuth, Prawit, and others.

[Sydebolle]

Ok, the script is always the same:
- inactive posting, and should the story not dwindle down on its on, then 
- everything a big misunderstanding
End of script; get ready for the next little fairy tale chapter of BIBs

[jacko45k]

5 hours ago, mikebell said:

The Commander recently received an award on behalf of his force for reducing the number of accidents during the 7 Deadly Days.  These are the ONLY days when the police are visible in Pattaya.  They knock off early Friday until late Monday except for the unfortunate few who are used at night to raid previously warned clubs not to be doing anything naughty on Saturday night.

Coincidentally talking to a WIN guy about this... he tried to get me to don a dirty looking little helmet, and I asked, 'are there police around town, on a Sunday afternoon?'

[Toby1947]

On 6/17/2023 at 5:36 AM, petermik said:

Are there any honest folk here in high positions....or does dishonesty qualify you for these positions

Answer question 1, NO

Answer question 2 YES 

[The Deerhunter]

On 6/17/2023 at 4:04 PM, worgeordie said:

Another misunderstanding no doubt........

 

regards Worgeordie

Shock horror. Please say it isn't true.

[V8M8]

12 hours ago, cardinalblue said:

At the macro level, thailand is a dishonest culture

 

they know it and that is why the authorizes make it a big deal when a taxi driver returns a purse or wallet full of valuables..

 

see look at this…somehow these acts try to give the impression of washing away the corrosive and decaying skeleton of its core

 

 

A corrosive and decaying skeleton, oh my god, what do we do now?

[V8M8]

On 6/17/2023 at 5:49 PM, spidermike007 said:

Let us hope. They may be the nations only hope of salvation. The army represents nothing but moral rot, decay, decadent men, corruption, ignoring the will of the people, and moving the nation backwards. Be gone. Be gone now. Get thee behind us!

Decadent men.....LOFL! 

[berrec]

LOS - Land of Swindlers

[natway09]

The "tourist" area commissioners jobs of the big 8 are not cheap to obtain.

140 million Bht in these areas without pushing the barrow would take about 6 months to recoup,

this stupid commissioner just could not help himself to get richer quicker.

From memory was not the Chonburi commissioner not a "political appointment"

I remember during & before the Vietnam war they could make this with "poppies"

 

[Zack61]

On 6/16/2023 at 9:36 PM, petermik said:

Are there any honest folk here in high positions....or does dishonesty qualify you for these positions

A prerequisite 

[still kicking]

On 6/17/2023 at 8:44 PM, Boyn said:

How big does a brown envelope have to be to hold 140 million ?

Funny you ask that, why everybody keeps talking about brown envelopes every body in my Thai family uses the white ones 

[Mansell]

Get Big Joke on the case. He seems to be the only one who isn’t on the take…….but what do we know? But I’d put my money on him, as long as he’s alive.