Crackdown: Phuket Police ordered to carry out weekend blitz on crime

[bangarang]

Way to give the criminals a head start. Im guessing the heads-up notice was due in part to advance tea money.

[marell]

These guys are getting sloppy. What good is a crackdown without publically identifying specific activities to be targeted, locations of interest, names of wanted individuals (nick names are fine), chronological sequence of events, precise start and stop times, numbers of police involved, numbers of criminals that will be arrested. amounts and values of items to be seized and some exciting scary file photos of grim, no-nonsense authories protecting the public. Sounds like a pretty half-as*ed crackdown...oh sorry, are they 'blitzes' now?

Edited September 27, 2013 by marell

[Thormaturge]

They seem to have one of these crackdowns every time I visit Phuket.

So far been stopped by the police three times this year....and I'm still here to tell the tale.

[thailandist]

"293 for prostitution; 276 for overstay;" seems a little odd. I would think hookers would be easier to track down in Phuket than people who are overstaying their visa.

[Halion]

And what is it the Police DO when they are not ordered to DO their JOB???????????????????????

My thoughts exactly. It is worded as if he is in appreciation of them doing what the should be doing as routine

[tragickingdom]

Let me guess. The Bangkok hotshots will proudly present another 6000 plus people taken as prisoner. That must instill confidence in holiday makers just as their campaign in Pattaya. Best is however just to take out a few pages in major European, Chinese, and American newspapers in which they tell holiday makers to go to Cambodia or Burma instead. Who wants to make a holiday in a mini city that seems to have ten thousands of criminals. Avoid Thailand, half the population is a criminal the other half will inform on you!

[Calimotty]

Let me guess. The Bangkok hotshots will proudly present another 6000 plus people taken as prisoner. That must instill confidence in holiday makers just as their campaign in Pattaya. Best is however just to take out a few pages in major European, Chinese, and American newspapers in which they tell holiday makers to go to Cambodia or Burma instead. Who wants to make a holiday in a mini city that seems to have ten thousands of criminals. Avoid Thailand, half the population is a criminal the other half will inform on you!

the other half will inform on you!

And why not? criminals deserve to be informed on.

Edited September 27, 2013 by Calimotty

[NomadJoe]

How wonderfully comical these litlle people are...the BIB should start a reality TV show, they would make millions. They are sweet though, always amusing, always predictable, always completely hopeless.

If they were not so expensive to maintain, I would keep one as a pet!

There's the rub. Only politicians, criminals and the very rich can afford them.

That is a triple redundence.

[NomadJoe]

Presented at the media conference were suspects arrested and items seized during the campaign, including several Myanmar nationals, illegal firearms, pirated goods ..and A SLOW LORIS

Presumably the Loris was arrested for aiding and abetting...albeit slowly.?...or maybe as a new mascot to sit on arresting officers shoulder during photo-shoot and finger pointing

Surely you haven't missed the Rihanna story. The loris problem has been heavily covered herein Phuket for the last year.

[mancub]

"293 for prostitution; 276 for overstay;" seems a little odd. I would think hookers would be easier to track down in Phuket than people who are overstaying their visa.

Maybe these cases were related ....only paid for Short Time ,but lingered a little longer ? OP didn't say anything about visas !

[Suradit69]

I used to be a policeman in England (many years ago) and I thought a policeman's duties were to catch criminals, when they were thieving etc. at all times not merely on a specific week-end as a publicity stunt.

Right. No publicity stunts announcing crack downs on everything from criminal gangs (who'd have thought) to snooker (tearing apart the fabric of society) in old blighty.

Met Police launches crackdown on gold thieves

A POLICE operation to target the rising theft of gold across London has been launched by the Met today (September 16).

http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/bromley/10676836.Met_Police_launches_crackdown_on_gold_thieves/

Match-fixing crackdown working, say officials, after Lee's 12-year ban

The former Metropolitan police chief driving snooker's attempt to rid itself of a reputation as one of the sports most vulnerable to match-fixing insists it has moved "a very long way" from its dubious past, despite the record 12-year ban handed down to the former world No5 Stephen Lee.

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2013/sep/25/stephen-lee-snooker-match-fixing

Pubs and clubs to face closure in rape crackdown

Police in the country's biggest force are to use the licensing laws to shut down pubs and clubs where high levels of rape and sexual assaults take place as part of a radical attempt to create a hostile environment for rapists.

http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/oct/10/pubs-clubs-closed-rape-crackdown

Yard announces crackdown on criminal gangs

The number of gang members in London has spiralled to almost 5,000, Scotland Yard revealed yesterday as it announced a multimillion pound crackdown on the people responsible for a huge proportion of violent crime

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/yard-announces-crackdown-on-criminal-gangs-6676542.html

[Fullstop]

Police ordered to carry out weekend blitz on crime

They have to be 'ordered' to do what they should be doing 24/7.

"AMAZING THAILAND"

Flippin useless.

[mancub]

I used to be a policeman in England (many years ago) and I thought a policeman's duties were to catch criminals, when they were thieving etc. at all times not merely on a specific week-end as a publicity stunt.

Right. No publicity stunts announcing crack downs on everything from criminal gangs (who'd have thought) to snooker (tearing apart the fabric of society) in old blighty.

Met Police launches crackdown on gold thieves

A POLICE operation to target the rising theft of gold across London has been launched by the Met today (September 16).

http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/bromley/10676836.Met_Police_launches_crackdown_on_gold_thieves/

Match-fixing crackdown working, say officials, after Lee's 12-year ban

The former Metropolitan police chief driving snooker's attempt to rid itself of a reputation as one of the sports most vulnerable to match-fixing insists it has moved "a very long way" from its dubious past, despite the record 12-year ban handed down to the former world No5 Stephen Lee.

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2013/sep/25/stephen-lee-snooker-match-fixing

Pubs and clubs to face closure in rape crackdown

Police in the country's biggest force are to use the licensing laws to shut down pubs and clubs where high levels of rape and sexual assaults take place as part of a radical attempt to create a hostile environment for rapists.

http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/oct/10/pubs-clubs-closed-rape-crackdown

Yard announces crackdown on criminal gangs

The number of gang members in London has spiralled to almost 5,000, Scotland Yard revealed yesterday as it announced a multimillion pound crackdown on the people responsible for a huge proportion of violent crime

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/yard-announces-crackdown-on-criminal-gangs-6676542.html

And all those caught were most likely given the ultimate deterrent of the equivalent of a 100 bt fine .....and released to carry on as normal.....NOT !

[tingtongteesood]

IDIOTS !!! We are actually going to do our real job for once this weekend but we will tell everyone in advance so everyone can make sure there is nothing for us to actually do. REMARKABLY DUMB !

[NamKangMan]

This so called 'crackdown' will only target the small fry, folks with no influence, and all for publicity show. All the king pins will be left alone. Money talks here in on Paradise Island. And everything back to normal next month until the next publicity display.

They really need to come up with different media release material if they are going to BS the global tourist market back into coming here. It's the same rubbish - arrest one guy for one scam, and then a press release that Phuket has been fixed up.

If they can't come up with even better BS that will circumnavigate social media, and the media in general, not to mention word of mouth, then, they simply better getting busy fixing up all the reasons why the traditional western market are now avoiding Phuket like the plague.

Phuket's "influential people" will ride the wave as long, and as hard, as they can, for every baht, to to detriment of the whole island, and its future,

So, we are really at a cross roads for Phuket at the moment. The whole island is under duress.

The question really is, just how low will they let those who are squeezing every last baht out of the place, for themselves, go?

[Fullstop]

So the general consensus seems to be that the Thai Police force is more inept than the Keystone Cops from decades past.

So what else is new? How did this thread notification make it to my inbox?

Zzzzz

[LivinginKata]

They really need to come up with different media release material if they are going to BS the global tourist market back into coming here. It's the same rubbish - arrest one guy for one scam, and then a press release that Phuket has been fixed up.

If they can't come up with even better BS that will circumnavigate social media, and the media in general, not to mention word of mouth, then, they simply better getting busy fixing up all the reasons why the traditional western market are now avoiding Phuket like the plague.

Phuket's "influential people" will ride the wave as long, and as hard, as they can, for every baht, to to detriment of the whole island, and its future,

So, we are really at a cross roads for Phuket at the moment. The whole island is under duress.

The question really is, just how low will they let those who are squeezing every last baht out of the place, for themselves, go?

First off - too much social media these days. Thai media can push the 'positive' BS. But it will never be beleived.

Second - sure, the influential people (and their lower level associates) will ride the wave for as long as they can squeeze a baht out of the island, and don't care (more like no thought for the future) about the long term future.

Third - who are the 'they' ? Far too many fingers in the pie, and 'they' don't care that it's a rapidly shrinking pie.

[Benmart]

Glad to hear it. However, there are people that will never be satisfied and will find fault regardless of what the RTP do. If they act, they are criticized. If they don't act, they are criticized. If they target touts and scam artisist, they are criticized for not going after "real criminals". When they publicize their intentions, they are ridiculed for keeping the public informed. If they didn't publicize what they do, they are accused of not doing anything.

I read some of the TVF posts and wonder what perfect world these negative nabobs of negativism come from. They really should step forward and volunteer their time and expertise to help turn things around since they appear to have all the answers.

[atsiii]

293 for prostitution, well they didn't raid that many bars or clubs then. haha

The 293 may not have been prostitutes, but rather foreigners who were soliciting prostitution. More money in that crackdown!

[Bagwan]

General Wuthi is an advisor to RTP. What's he doing doing orders? He has no authority at all.

[RachaRob]

The taxi drivers were probably the same ones over and over again

[espinoza]

As I remeber they promised no floodings this year.

What ? It's ONLY going to take a weekend ' blitz ' to sort out all crime in Phuket......don't make me laugh

[espinoza]

This will make the tourists confident about law and order :-) Crack downs will never. Only continous good police work will. That will never happen in Thailand.

What ? It's ONLY going to take a weekend ' blitz ' to sort out all crime in Phuket......don't make me laugh

[Fullstop]

I read some of the TVF posts and wonder what perfect world these negative nabobs of negativism come from. They really should step forward and volunteer their time and expertise to help turn things around since they appear to have all the answers.

I'd love to help out... but I don't think they'll elect a farang Prime minister. Invasion and colonisation is the only answer I'm afraid.

[Tatsujin]

If the Police were disbanded or took the weekend off, the crime rate would drop considerably.

[webfact]

UPDATE:

Phuket forty-day anti-crime drive 'a big success'
Naraporn Tuarob


Gen Wuthi (right) asks Col Sermphan Sirikong, Superintendent of Phuket Town Police, about some of the illegal weapons seized during the 40 day campaign.

PHUKET: -- Two top police generals, Gen Wuthi Liptapallop and Gen Pichit Kuandachakupt, were in Phuket yesterday (September 26) to review a 40-day blitz against crime in Phuket, Krabi, Samui, Pattaya, and Chiang Mai, which began on August 16 and ended on Wednesday (September 25).

Gen Wuthi said that during the 40 days, no tourists were murdered, raped, or killed in the course of a robbery in any of the five places. Police also successfully “wiped out” all ladyboy prostitution in Pattaya.

“Also, we reduced the number of cases of foreigners being deceived into buying [fake or poor quality] jewellery, thefts of tourists’ property on tour buses, and tourists being coerced by touts into buying tailored clothes. Now we have solved these problems.”

“This is a good thing, because if we allow [these things] to happen then it will ruin the country’s tourism reputation.”

However, he said there are still some illegal tour counters. “So I have ordered the Tourist Police to fix this within seven days.”

A total of 10,000 raids had been carried out, he said. Of these, 5,000 involved drugs, 2,000 ended in arrests of people overstaying or working illegally, and 1,600 were against prostitution. The others involved gambling (500 raids), illegal possession of guns (200) and other lesser crimes.

“Our raids caused ladyboy prostitution in Pattaya to be wiped out,” he said.

More than 2,000 people were arrested in Phuket alone during the 40 days.

The numbers were: 35 hotels and guesthouses fined for not reporting details of guests to Immigration; 276 foreigners arrested for overstaying; 48 foreigners arrested for working illegally; 177 arrested after being found to have entered the country illegally; 27 for working illegally as guides; 742 arrested for providing unlicensed taxi services; 411 arrested for involvement with illegal drugs; 123 arrested for copyright piracy; 45 caught for illegal possession of guns; and 293 for pimping.

“Also, from a survey conducted during the 40 days, 80 per cent of tourists declared themselves confident in the security measure provided by the Royal Thai Police,” added Gen Wuthi.

“Now that the 40 days of raids are complete, police officers who were drafted in to help can go back to their normal jobs, taking care of the people and the province.” he said.

“The number of complaints from tourists has fallen, so we are confident that our measures were successful in controlling crime.

“However, when or if the number of complaints rises again, we will come back and conduct more raids.”

Gen Pichit noted, “The Ministry of Tourism & Sports has allocated a budget of B197 million [for the 2014 fiscal year, starting next Tuesday, October 1] for the Tourist Police to install security cameras in Phuket, Samui, Pattaya and Chiang Mai. We will start in Phuket as the pilot province for this project.

“The Tourist Police are now working on this.”

Source: http://www.thephuketnews.com/phuket-forty-day-anti-crime-drive-%E2%80%98a-big-success%E2%80%99-42130.php


-- Phuket News 2013-09-28

[Zpete]

I guess the relevant mafias will share out tea monies and business will be back as usual.

[RickeyParkany]

“Now that the 40 days of raids are complete, police officers who were drafted in to help can go back to their normal jobs, taking care of the people and the province.” he said.

Huh? aren't these raids their *normal job*?

ooops! this was just a call for larger brown envelopes? I get it...

“Our raids caused ladyboy prostitution in Pattaya to be wiped out,” he said. ;-} rap.

[hellodolly]

So after 31st - everything back to normal - excellent

Are the DSI leaving or have they gone already?

I noticed that most of the crimes did not pose a danger to tourists just money out of their wallet. Especially prostitution. The taxi cabs will be replaced by other illegal taxis and the legal ones will just raise their rates.

Good to see some action on the drugs and weapons. None apparently on the jet boats or illegal blocking off of breaches.

Looks like business as usual Monday morning.

[lee b]

Oh my its scary to think what them things are on the table, but its better that the police have them instead of being on the streets