Armed Thai soldiers arrest gamblers in rice field

[55Jay]

Obviously cereal gamblers, authorities cropping too much flax and was only a matter of thyme.

Oh, that was a very rye comment, I must say.

It was oat and oat harassment by the army, after someone grassed them up.

The players barley make a living growing rice and they have to wheat months until they get paid.

They deserve some entertainment, although I am amaized where they get the cash from..

Edited November 13, 2014 by 55Jay

[stat088]

The powers that be, currently the military, but often in the past politicians and the police, have traditionally always kept the profits from the black economy firmly in their own pockets and crack down disproportionately hard on any entrepreneurial start-ups in the prostitution, gambling, drugs, moonshine or weapons trade.

If you want to make money from these illegal activities, you have to be on the inside here.

What do you think the war on drugs was about? Certainly not eliminating drugs, but rather to bring everyone involved into the fold and ensure the profits went to the "correct" people.

Spot on.

[noitom]

Wow - Thailand has really arrived at the bottom of the law and order food chain. Arresting some farm women for playing a board game with some piddling money on the table. And wasting government and tax payer money to arm these police and use their time with automatic weapons to do so. What an appalling state of affairs this Thailand is in. There are so many Thai big men laughing at this and the Thai authorities should be ashamed not to be busting and stinging Thai big men for gambling and all sorts of other crimes.

[surangw]

were they prepared to shoot any one that tried to run away?

[MobileContent]

That women in the purple shirt looks just like my mother in-law

That purple woman is the organizer of the game and the army surely shipped her off to the police which released her 5 minutes later.

[Sadana]

Many isan people welcome the military, since most of them do not trust the local police unless they are family. They obviously choose to report to the military checkpoints.

Gambling is still illegal here and thus a serious offence. About following the law... you got to start somewhere, thus stupid to suggest they would others who commit criminal offences walk. If you report a crime to them, the will follow up

even tho it can take time. Do not expect that the military cleans up the country in a week what previous governments screwed up in years past.

My opinion, here in the isan they are doing a good job.

[klauskunkel]

Do you really need five heavily armed soldiers to stop some people gambling in a rice field?

Yes you do, to bring happiness back to the people, after all 'Happiness is a warm gun, bang, bang, shoot, shoot' - John Lennon

[deecee10]

Obviously cereal gamblers, authorities cropping too much flax and was only a matter of thyme.

Oh, that was a very rye comment, I must say.

It was oat and oat harassment by the army, after someone grassed them up.

The players barley make a living growing rice and they have to wheat months until they get paid.

They deserve some entertainment, although I am amaized where they get the cash from..

load of old chaff

[deecee10]

"...armed with automatic rifles and body armour, surrounded them with military vehicles."

Brilliant use of resources...

Fabricating your own quotes isn't such a good use of resources either.

Who is fabricating what?

[Thaddeus]

I remember getting caught smoking behind the bike sheds at school, it took a dozen heavily armed SAS troops to bring us down.

Of course it was the prefects supplying the cigarettes.

[retarius]

Marvelous isn't it. The country faces some really major issues and what arrests do we see....garbage collectors selling scrapped CDs going to jail and some guys having a game of cards in a field. I was expecting to see some high profile slavers going before the magistrates, but no, we get sellers of scrap CDs.

[Gentmartin]

I remember getting caught smoking behind the bike sheds at school, it took a dozen heavily armed SAS troops to bring us down.

Of course it was the prefects supplying the cigarettes.

It has been asked, 'where did they get the cash to gamble ?'

The answer is possibly from Yingluks dodgy rice buy back scheme lol....

Then one of the losing gamblers came back with an AK47 and......whoops sorry, wrong story..i do get confused sometimes ;-)

[lvr181]

Do you really need five heavily armed soldiers to stop some people gambling in a rice field? Where is the police?

Thailand in the year 2014, unbelievable. Guess military and martial law have to stay for longer if there are still such serious problems to solve...

You trust the Police now?

[Always18]

Do you really need five heavily armed soldiers to stop some people gambling in a rice field? Where is the police?

Thailand in the year 2014, unbelievable. Guess military and martial law have to stay for longer if there are still such serious problems to solve...

"Where is the police?".................well, if it's anything like the situation in our village, most of the gambling is organised by the local police (even to the extent of the local chief providing his house for the purpose!) and any other gambling activities are condoned upon payment of the usual "facilitation" money to them...................

[cup-O-coffee]

Wow, major bust. 11 rice farmers. What a joke. What about the huge underground Casino's reopening in Bangkok???

You know better than that; in this country the rich are protected and the poor are screwed. No joke; harsh reality.

It seems to be a growing trend for governments these days: go after those who cannot fight back, and get the others (stupid, uninformed sheep) to turn on those who can't fight back via the media. This is typical behavior for bullies, or in other words, failing governments who get no respect anymore.

If anyone ever wondered what overkill means, then they should not wonder anymore after reading this.

[greenchair]

Marvelous isn't it. The country faces some really major issues and what arrests do we see....garbage collectors selling scrapped CDs going to jail and some guys having a game of cards in a field. I was expecting to see some high profile slavers going before the magistrates, but no, we get sellers of scrap CDs.

And my husband was put in handcuffs, because he let his wife teach English after school. And the little four year olds were told they were criminal for learning english after school.

And i was arrested and called a criminal for sharing a language.

And i was told I could not teach for free.

And lets not forget the mushroom pickers.

[Andrew65]

And the Amnat Charoen Police department were where?

I think there would be a strong possibility that the soldiers were not natives of the area, whereas local police officers would almost certainly be known personally, by some or all of the gamblers & farmers. (Tip-offs from the police etc)?!

[evadgib]

In a small town in UK halfway between London & Portsmouth sits a pub where horses were changed. On the wall is a plaque commemorating the people that passed through, inc a boy of 9 who was transported to Tasmania for 'Skating on a Gentlemens pond on a Sunday!' .

Thankfully we have since grown out of it.

[lvr181]

If anyone thinks Police corruption is going to end anytime soon is much mistaken. Many "heads chopped off" will be required, before the message of corruption not being welcome MAY sink in.

It's a bit like Ebola, out of control and hard to get rid of. I am sure there are honest Police, perhaps in the minority and not in control unfortunately.

[Johnnie99]

"Armed Thai soldiers"

Am I wrong in thinking that any soldiers engaged in this sort of operation would be armed?

No, I am not wrong.

[Johnnie99]

In a small town in UK halfway between London & Portsmouth sits a pub where horses were changed. On the wall is a plaque commemorating the people that passed through, inc a boy of 9 who was transported to Tasmania for 'Skating on a Gentlemens pond on a Sunday!' .

Thankfully we have since grown out of it.

God damnit sir! Were those not the days when laws were laws and shenanigans were dealt with properly!

[Orac]

If the army were there because the farmer who owned the rice field reported them then i would suspect there are bigger issues at foot than a simple card/HiLo game and would be very surprised if it ends here.

[CiaranO]

The good general will probably be promoting this in the international stage to the top foreign diplomats. He more than likely has made the a connection to human trafficking and will endeavour to tell the world the crackdown has begun.