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Police promised cash reward to buy false testimony: Koh Tao taxi driver


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Police promised cash reward to buy false testimony: taxi driver
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- A TAXI driver on Koh Tao off the Surat Thani coast yesterday went public with his accusation that police investigating the murders of two British tourists had tried to intimidate him into providing false testimony.

In a media interview yesterday, Prasit Sukdam also accused the police of giving him a large sum of money in exchange for false testimony to frame the wrong people. He claimed the money was taken from the Bt700,000 offered as a reward by Koh Tao residents for information leading to the arrest of the killers.

Separately, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha dismissed reports that tourists will be encouraged to wear wristbands or register electronically upon arrival in addition to passport verification at the airport. "We can't make them wear any chip-embedded device. We want them to keep visiting Thailand," he added.

Meanwhile, Prasit brought the issue up with Assawin sae-Phoo, head of local taxi drivers on the tourist island, citing "fear for his life after turning down the offer". Assawin later took Prasit's complaint to Korbchai Saowalak, the kamnan of tambon Koh Tao.

Korbchai then spoke publicly to the police, calling on them to not work on the case in an aggressive manner and not find scapegoats. "Don't harm innocent people or frighten them," he said.

Speaking later to reporters, Prasit said: "I don't want to take any action against the policemen, but want to demonstrate my innocence and I will cooperate with other requests in the future. Just don't force me to acknowledge [something] I never knew [about]," he said.

Prasit admitted to celebrating with a football team after a match at an unnamed pub on the night of the murders, but said he knew nothing about the team members' activities or police suspicions about them.

He said some policemen approached him at 1.30pm on Monday trying to convince him to cooperate and let him go five hours later.

Meanwhile, assistant national police chief Lt-General Jakthip Chaijinda has been instructed to supervise the investigation, taking over from Police Region 8 commander Lt-General Panya Manen who has been promoted to assistant national police chief. Officials said different police units should work together on the probe.

The Police Region 8 chief's post has been filled by Lt-General Decha Butrnamphet, who said later that the same set of investigators would continue working on the case.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Police-promised-cash-reward-to-buy-false-testimony-30244573.html

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-- The Nation 2014-10-02

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The Police Region 8 chief's post has been filled by Lt-General Decha Butrnamphet, who said later that the same set of investigators would continue working on the case.

I don't know anything about Decha, but '....the same set of investigators would continue....?' Not confidence-building.
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An absolute disgrace .

That said, good on old cabbie for speaking up.
p

On that I agree. I am sure he won't be staying on KT if he values his life, a rotten island.

I'd happily offer him asylum in the UK.

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If the police are are calling him in twice, they obviously think he knows something. Perhaps the village headman is encourageing the driver to be quiet.I dont think the cops just chose a random taxi driver and beat him up. There are two sides and i am standing by the police. The english police are known to give their suspects a beating now and then. I think the police are quite close to an arrest, but just need abit more information. If that guy was so innocent he would be sueing the cops a---s. All praise to the police, beat him up again and get his mouth relaxed

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Yes....the taxi guy seems to be a man of principal.......how many other Thai men would stand up and annouce this news about rogue cops.....good for him!

And, as mentioned in this article, Prayuth has knocked the stupid wrist bans on the head......which I suspected of being a means of registering all hotels for tax collection.......and nothing to do with safety of visitors.

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Anybody knows the going rate for tempering with DNA test results?

It is suspiciously quiet on that front... tempering or looking for a closer match?

BTW why not take DNA from suspects at hand instead of showing cooked up reports by 'witnesses', lecture attendance rolls and cctv cameras?

Can an order be obtained in Thailand to take a saliva swab, a urine test or a strain of hair borrowed?

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After this guy's statements about police bribery, conspiracy to obstruct and collusion along with possible murder suspects, the police should be immediately detained questioned and arrested if there is suspicion.

Whereas, unfortunately, it will simply be ignored and not even the pretence of an investigation.

I hope the taxi driver has moved away, fast !

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