Pracha Puts Prison Commanders On Notice Over Drug Trafficking: Thailand

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Pracha puts commanders on notice over drug trafficking

The Nation

Narcotics sales among inmates to be stamped out in a year, minister vows

BANGKOK: -- Prison commanders will face drastic action if they cannot cope with the government's strict policy on drug dealing in prison, which is now a national priority that will be completely tackled within one year, Justice Minister Pracha Promnok said yesterday.

He did not offer details of the action such commanders would face, but said they would need to "consider their future under the ministry", and that efficiency in implementing the policy would be the main criteria for evaluating their performance.

Five hundred highprofile drug convicts from all prisons will be sent to Khao Bin Prison in Ratchaburi and a few other maximumsecurity facilities next week.

Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung said revenge killings or "silencing" murders among drug dealers was a possibility, but that no violent or extrajudicial measures would be used by police or other authorities.

A search at highsecurity Bang Khwang Prison in Bangkok conducted by 400 officials yesterday turned up a large number of contraband items, including 39 mobile phones, homemade knives and short pikes, gambling paraphernalia and moonshine alcohol.

Prison commander Vishanu Prajongkij said Pheerayuth Phaetsakul, an inmate implicated by highprofile drug suspect Niphon Kanchart, was now in a solitary confinement but denied any wrongdoing. Niphon was arrested on January 25 in possession of crystal methamphetamine and amphetamine tablets worth more than Bt1 billion in a Bangkok home he rented from an actress.

Slums targeted

Metropolitan police have targeted 18 slums where drug abuse is rampant for searchandsuppression operations. In raids yesterday, 60 suspects were apprehended - nine of them for unlawful possession of firearms - and 1,472 amphetamine tablets and six firearms were seized, along with a quantity of ammunition.

Two suspected dealers, Kittiphan Panoy and Thanandorn Khongjan, were arrested in possession of an AK47 assault rifle - an indication, according to Bangkok police chief Pol LtGeneral Winai Thongsong, of drug suspects' violent tendencies and willingness to fight to the death if confronted during police searches or arrests.

Three robbery suspects with long criminal records were male minors aged 16 and 17, the officer said, adding that this was another indication of the high degree of violence among young career drugrelated criminals.

Khlong Phai Prison in Nakhon Ratchasima last year discovered more than 100 mobile phones smuggled in by various means, including visitors hiding them in their anal cavities, relatives hiding them in food and supplies, and the use of slingshots and remotecontrol aircraft to deliver them over the prison's walls.

Prison commander Khongkrit Phongthawat said that of 841 inmates serving life terms, 88 drug convicts would be relocated to Khao Bin, while two prison guards had been suspended for assisting inprison drug deals.

A total of 3,348 inmates facing terms of 15 years to life are detained at Khlong Phai.

It costs an inmate Bt500,000 to purchase a Blackberry or highend Nokia phone model and get it smuggled into the prison, as these can connect to the Internet, making them highly sought after. Conventional models able to make voice calls go for 10 times their normal prices.

-- The Nation 2012-02-04

[BigJohnnyBKK]

I love how the corrupt wardens are given a year to "clean up their act or else". Especially since the "drastic" or else is simply re-assignment to a less visible post.

Makes it obvious that this is not an unusual or exceptional situation but the perceived-normal status quo in Thailand's jails, therefore the complicit bureacrats need to be given time to recoup their investments (money paid for their lucrative positions) and to get everything "cleaned up" and under control as far as the outside world can tell. I'd be very surprised if the fundamental situation was actually different a year from now.

Whereas in most countries (not just the west) resources would be put in to actually clean the mess up in a few months, with complicit officials actually receiving harsher punishment than ordinary citizens, as they should.

But TiT. . .

PS let's **please** try to avoid making this a "this government vs that one" issue, it's not, these things are IMO are not susceptible to change by one party or the other, basically endemic to "Thai culture" and the effort needed to make such systemic changes require a lot more will/time/money/effort than those with real power on all sides are willing to spend.

[pauljones]

Years ago, I read a warden was loaning the guards motorbikes to the prisoners so they could go to "work".

[anterian]

Across the road from me is a retired prison warder. He gets 10,000 Baht per month pension, runs a local gambling group, has a grandson who sells drugs. Just your average law abiding citizen

[jambco984]

The 1 for you 1 for me scheme will need to be the ok we will keep a bit and hand over the rest to our bigger bosses scheme.

One day but not in my lifetime will we see a perfect world...... Whens the next ice age??

[jambco984]

Across the road from me is a retired prison warder. He gets 10,000 Baht per month pension, runs a local gambling group, has a grandson who sells drugs. Just your average law abiding citizen

Sounds perfectly normal, I don't see your point

[pogal]

It's obvious that Thailand will never change with no real punishment for officials who break the law. They are only ever "transferred". We have seen this time and again, there is no real deterrent for them.

It seems bizarre that criminals break laws and do long hard time, or even get death sometimes, but officials caught breaking the law are merely "transferred"

On top of that, you can always pay your way out, as long as its not public yet. Imagine the amount of illegal activities that officials have committed and gotten away with in the past, it must be astronomical.

I know someone who just last week was caught with drugs and paid the police 10,000 to get off without any record. 10,000 is not much for a drug dealer or corrupt official. This guy used to be a friend, a young guy who lives in the slum area of Klong Toei. He was a hard working kid who never "used" for many years but then I lost contact with him and heard from other friends he was into drugs after being fired for no reason by his boss, I didn't believe it at first and even paid him a visit at his home, he denied it of course, but later I seen him with drug users, and then a year later this happened. I asked him why, and he said simply "money". He was not scared of going to jail because he knows he can always pay his way out...

Sure, we have crime in every country, but Thailand is one of the few countries where crime really does pay! Therefore crime will only ever increase, forget about stamping it out, t would be impossible with an attitude like that. The future for Thailand is pretty much set in stone. It would take a major overhaul of every institution in Thailand to even begin to change, and that, would be virtually impossible under any government. Crime and corruption is institutionalized and part of Thai culture now.

The average "law-abiding" Thai has to deal with it as best they can. Its quite sad to see some of my "law-abiding" Thai friends talk about corruption. In their eyes, you can see the love of their country mixed with the pain of corruption that manifests itself as a huge scar across a beautiful face. I feel so sorry for them, and angry at the people who make their lives like that.

Nowadays I say very little about corruption to my Thai friends because I know it brings pain for them, and there is really nothing they can do about it. Its something we should all think about when complaining to our Thai friends and girlfriends, really what is the point to complain or talk about it with them. Its not as if they don't know about it, its just that they are completely powerless to do anything. It could be comparable to your loved-one having terminal cancer and watching them slowly die, and then have your friends say to you, "why aren't you doing anything about it".

Better to vent your frustrations here at Thaivisa with a bunch of farangs

[wxyz]

And why are they not being given the 'DEATH PENALTY' like they are doing to other drug offenders?

Selective Justice is NO Justice at all. As is selective enforcement of the laws.

Edited February 5, 2012 by wxyz