Chiang Mai anti-drug police chief arrested in Chiang Rai for drug delivery

[HOOD Robin]

Look at that police lad in the centre in the background... really looking worried... "hopefully they dont know about my bad behaviours yet" i can read from his face....

[SOTIRIOS]

......wow......

[iancnx]

Look at that police lad in the centre in the background... really looking worried... "hopefully they dont know about my bad behaviours yet" i can read from his face....

The chap in the centre wearing a beret is most likely an Army officer, though the picture is not clear enough to be sure. I am not sure regular BiB wear berets?

[iReason]

"...police are interrogating the suspect to find out more about the drug network he allegedly works for."

Uh huh...

Can't wait for the follow up story...

Edited August 19, 2014 by iReason

[squarethecircle]

"This big, big business has been going on for 70 years and they are not going to allow people take a cut and run. Precursor made in China, shipped to Burma and finished product sent to Chiang Rai for further transport"

I think a lot of it is going back to China now. Every time I've been through the checkpoints in CR they always are looking for girls, they check their bags and look inside purses, sometimes feel the shoes. Those suitcases make it clear that it is much bigger than that.

[mok199]

..............the beat goes on.........

[Thaddeus]

I wonder what punishment Chalerm would recommend for this chap.

[hyperdimension]

This dirty cop is without doubt a kingpin in the Northwest

Kingpins don't physically handle the merchandise. They are levels above those who do.

[Torrens54]

This dirty cop is without doubt a kingpin in the Northwest, there will be a few people with stained underpants right now unless he magically drops dead from some sort of medical issue, I hope he is in army custody and not police

Whilst I have no sympathy for anyone involved in the Drug Trade, I don't think we should be calling him a "dirty cop" at this stage, unless of course the Judge and Jury @ thaivisa.com has already given him a fair trial and found him guilty.

[klauskunkel]

He is just a misunderstood drug mule tricked by farangs to make a delivery, not knowing what was inside...let him go...

[Colabamumbai]

Some things never change and never will. Too much money involved.

And always those at the top.

[webfact]

Properties of former drug buster impounded



BANGKOK: -- Soldiers from Surasakmontri army camp and police in Lampang province today searched two houses of a former Chiang Mai narcotics senior police officer and impounded them on suspicion that he earned these assets from the drug business.

The two one-storey houses are located in Jane and Joy housing estate in Muang district of Lampang, and in Suksawat housing estate.

The former graft buster, Pol Lt-Col Chamnan Poongpaichit, deputy superintendent of Chai Prakarn police station in Chiang Mai, was held in custody after police manning a checkpoint in Huey Kai, Mae Sai district of Chiang Rai found the drugs in a luggage on the Toyota Fortuner in which he was driving last week.

More than 800,000 methamphetamine tablets and one kilogramme of Ice were found in the van he was driving from Chiang Rai province to Bangkok

He reportedly admitted that he agreed to deliver the drugs worth about 164 million baht to a customer in Bangkok in exchange for three million baht service fees.

He also told his police interrogators that he badly in need of money to repay his three million baht in debts with the police cooperatives and for two houses he bought on high purchase.

The officer was later dismissed from the services pending an investigation.

In Tuesday’ s search of two houses, police found many certificates and awards honouring the former graft buster of his outstanding drug suppression performances.

His daughter who is also a police officer led soldiers and police to search the two houses for more evidence.

But no illegal thing was found.

However the police seized a van and other assets in addition to the two houses worth a combined of over 10 million baht belonging to for investigation.

Pol Lt-Col Chamnan had earned the reputation of being a tough drug buster while serving at Sob Prab district police in Lampang.

He was also entrusted by his immediate boss at Region 5 Provincial Police Bureau to educate and train young police officers on the tactics of busting drug trafficking.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/properties-former-drug-buster-impounded/

-- Thai PBS 2014-08-19

[Just1Voice]

Drug Buster gets busted.

[media]

Well done, another corrupt cop off the streets.

[wdr]

When do they start to clean Samui. Police there is heavy involved in drug dealing.

[HOOD Robin]

Look at that police lad in the centre in the background... really looking worried... "hopefully they dont know about my bad behaviours yet" i can read from his face....

The chap in the centre wearing a beret is most likely an Army officer, though the picture is not clear enough to be sure. I am not sure regular BiB wear berets?

The Pattaya BiB Boss ALWAYS wears a beret... on ANY pic i've seen on TV...

[jmccarty]

Looks like a set up to me!

[rijb]

Not really a surprise. Police are deeply involved in the drug trade all over Thailand. On both sides of the fence - investigation and dealing or at least controlling the dealers.

That leads to my question. How deep and how wide?

They seem to be lousy crooks as well as lousy cops.

I wonder who they really work for.

[JacChang]

he looks more like a somchai driver than a police chief

[96tehtarp]

On the surface it looks like they caught a big fish. I hope they didn't really catch him and that this arrest is actually part of a deep undercover operation. We can only hope.

Yes, I do have an overactive imagination.

[toooa]

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Some things never change and never will. Too much money involved.

so true..... this is not an isolated incident. This is how prohibition works....Same all round the world. Anyone who thinks it's gonna change is delusional.

[ggt]

Stories like this are very encouraging...for those of us who want to see Thailand emerge as a beacon for democracy, security, safety, and abide by the rule of law...kudos to the officials for exposing this abusive anti-drug police chief...

[toooa]

Good to see some of these scumbags getting caught but only effective if the punishment fits the crime.

So much of the corruption that besets this country is as a result of police involvement either directly or indirectly. A major factor in providing "happiness for the people" would be to "sanitize" the RTP.

Well, seeing as the police's job is to uphold the law, and corruption is the degradation of the rule of law, I'd say for it to happen they must be involved...and what is police involvement a result of? Well it's the result of bad laws creating the opportunities for massive profits, in a culture where money trumps everything. People respond to incentives. The incentives for public officials to become corrupt are mind blowingly huge. You can see this all around the world.

What do you mean by effective punishment? I'm pretty sure this guy, as a Lt.Col. is probably very familiar with the punishments, since he was doling them out himself. How effective do you think these punishments are given that this guy new them inside out?...didn't phase him a bit.

You can't use violence to solve social problems....well, you can, but the result is the total shitfight we have today. You reckon 50+ years is a long enough experiment to find out whether this 'law and order' approach has been successful?

A major "happiness for the people" might be just to leave them the faark alone. Sanitizing the police force is like trying to keep dirt off a dozer. Dream on.

[khundon]

"Drug Police Chief" arrested.

Why did he not just tell everyone I'm just doing my job lads, the clue is in my rank and title.

[Benmart]

Probably moved to an inactive post as punishment

Possibly. I will hold my negative, fortune-telling expertise for later.

[NeilSA1]

It gets better and better. Well done the Junta.

[Benmart]

Glad to see it. I hope the detractors that claim that only "small fry" are being arrested will read this article.

From my experience, the small fry often rat on the big fish.

Of course, some may spin the story into a web of negativism, but that's okay too.

Go Thai Army, Navy, Marines and Others!

Edited August 19, 2014 by Benmart

[boomerangutang]

Reside in rural Chiang Rai and there's a very fancy house next door being built by a Mae Sai policeman. I don't know him well, but we've exchanged greetings over the years. The interior is all teak. The pattern for the past several years: 8 guys working there for a month, and then no one around for several months, on and off. Just wonderin'.

[catweazle]

Surprise, surprise!

[Johpa]

he looks more like a somchai driver than a police chief

Not much happens in Chaiprakan, the gateway to Fang. This man was not that big of a player. The players become much bigger north of Fang.