Phuket court issues arrest warrants for Ukrainian ‘abduction’ soldiers

[Lite Beer]

Phuket court issues arrest warrants for Ukrainian ‘abduction’ soldiers
Darawan Naknakhon

Two of the alleged abductors are brought into Chalong police station after their arrest on Friday.

PHUKET: The Phuket Court has issued arrest warrants for the five soldiers involved in the alleged abduction of a Ukranian couple last Thursday (December 18).

On Saturday (December 20) it had been announced that the soldiers had been released without charge. That decision has now apparently been reversed by the court.

Five Thai civilians were charged with abduction and extortion, and released on bail.

Yesterday the victims of the alleged abduction (all 10 Thais deny abducting anyone) were taken by police to visit the place at which the bizarre story, involving a missing B15 million and a lot of guns, began.

Led by Chalong investigator Capt Patiwat Yodkhown, Igor Iermakov, 37, his wife Maryna, 32, and a translator visited the abduction site on Friendship Beach in Rawai.

Capt Patiwat requested the press not to take pictures at the location.

The five soldiers, Master Sergeant 3rd class Sumit Chuaybumrung, Sgt Wichian Suknun, Sgt Chenpong Boonmee, Pvt Ritichai Promkaew and Pvt Phisit Keawwihok, are named in the arrest warrants, which state that they are wanted for threatening others and abduction when armed.

Neither the Provincial Police Commander, Maj Gen Patchara Boonyasit, nor the Superintendent of Chalong Police Station, Col Krittapas Dechintarasorn, would comment of the issue of the warrants.

The soldiers’ commander, Maj Gen Teenachat Jinda-Ngern, said he had not been informed about the warrants yet

Source: http://www.thephuketnews.com/phuket-court-issues-arrest-warrants-for-ukrainian-abduction-soldiers-50243.php

-- Phuket News 2014-12-22

[chotthee]

You are joking right?

Soldiers are good; Police are bad. Let it be that way.

[inzman]

They always take care of their own.

[iReason]

"...arrest warrants for the five soldiers..."

Soldiers you say?

Must be a case of mistaken identity.

[NamKangMan]

"...arrest warrants for the five soldiers..."

Soldiers you say?

Must be a case of mistaken identity.

"Must be a case of mistaken identity." - no, just another case of Phuket's infamous "misunderstandings."

I wonder if the reporter will be charged with defamation, as there is no way the Thai Army could be up to no good.

Edited December 22, 2014 by NamKangMan

[FireMedic]

I could see a "who's xxxx is bigger" contest going on between them. There will be lots of outward bickering going on....but internal "negotiations" going on behind closed doors.

[bkkjames]

You are joking right?

Soldiers are good; Police are bad. Let it be that way.

Well Well. Under the current admin people get handcuffs, under the former, they got transferred or even promoted lol

[rickirs]

"Capt Patiwat requested the press not to take pictures at the location."

Not asked or advised, but ordered. That's the power of martial law. If these five Thai soldiers were Burmese immigrants, not only would we have pictures of the location but also confessions and re-enactments of the kidnapping with the victims pointing fingers at the abductors! But the military takes immediate actions to damage control of its image, such is the nature of a military government.

[Dogmatix]

The squaddies' CO actually vouched for them, saying they had done nothing wrong as they just talked the 'debtor' to try to persuade him to repay his 'debt' to the 'creditor' and provided an army interpreter to assist in the discussion. It is clearly one of the military's duties to clear up misunderstandings between foreigners who are alleged to owe large sums of money to each other. How touching that they care.

Edited December 23, 2014 by Dogmatix

[timewilltell]

Like everything in Thailand there is no coordination. The police want one thing, the Army another and the courts another. Not sure what value the warrants are because police simply ignore them and even try to extort money from you if you present them with the criminal to arrest. The whole system is a complete farce. It is not the one hand not knowing what the other is doing but rather no hand willing to help the body but serving itself.

How can Thailand see itself - it is a backward outlier put there by the greed of its powerful families and the apathy of its people. It could be a great nation if anyone actually cared about the nation, for all the bleating and flag saluting it is plain the people do not work to the benefit of the country at all - only their selfish selves.

[KarenBravo]

Seems the first "misunderstanding" was a misunderstanding.

[The manic]

Like everything in Thailand there is no coordination. The police want one thing, the Army another and the courts another. Not sure what value the warrants are because police simply ignore them and even try to extort money from you if you present them with the criminal to arrest. The whole system is a complete farce. It is not the one hand not knowing what the other is doing but rather no hand willing to help the body but serving itself.

How can Thailand see itself - it is a backward outlier put there by the greed of its powerful families and the apathy of its people. It could be a great nation if anyone actually cared about the nation, for all the bleating and flag saluting it is plain the people do not work to the benefit of the country at all - only their selfish selves.

Read Forbes magazine on line this week. It will be banned in Thailand but it is a very good article.

[DoctorB]

Like everything in Thailand there is no coordination. The police want one thing, the Army another and the courts another. Not sure what value the warrants are because police simply ignore them and even try to extort money from you if you present them with the criminal to arrest. The whole system is a complete farce. It is not the one hand not knowing what the other is doing but rather no hand willing to help the body but serving itself.

How can Thailand see itself - it is a backward outlier put there by the greed of its powerful families and the apathy of its people. It could be a great nation if anyone actually cared about the nation, for all the bleating and flag saluting it is plain the people do not work to the benefit of the country at all - only their selfish selves.

Read Forbes magazine on line this week. It will be banned in Thailand but it is a very good article.

I agree. The Forbes article is a real "must read". Do it now before its too late.

Its also very much in line with what London's 'The Economist' has been saying from the start.

[NamKangMan]

Like everything in Thailand there is no coordination. The police want one thing, the Army another and the courts another. Not sure what value the warrants are because police simply ignore them and even try to extort money from you if you present them with the criminal to arrest. The whole system is a complete farce. It is not the one hand not knowing what the other is doing but rather no hand willing to help the body but serving itself.

How can Thailand see itself - it is a backward outlier put there by the greed of its powerful families and the apathy of its people. It could be a great nation if anyone actually cared about the nation, for all the bleating and flag saluting it is plain the people do not work to the benefit of the country at all - only their selfish selves.

Read Forbes magazine on line this week. It will be banned in Thailand but it is a very good article.

I agree. The Forbes article is a real "must read". Do it now before its too late.

Its also very much in line with what London's 'The Economist' has been saying from the start.

I've looked at the website. There are a few articles there about Thailand. What is the title of the article you are referring to?

[inzman]

That Forbes article is such a one sided, blatant red shirt propaganda piece of turd article. The article spouts rhetoric from a man that probably spent a week here, no real knowledge of the history or evolution of what goes on in this country. My read on it is it was written by some one with no true understanding. Real journalism provides information of both sides of an issue and doesn't inject the writers personal beliefs. Real journalists can write a piece from a neutral perspective and let the reader decide. Obviously this guy isn't a journalist, he is a propaganda machine, much like Fox News .

[timewilltell]

Like everything in Thailand there is no coordination. The police want one thing, the Army another and the courts another. Not sure what value the warrants are because police simply ignore them and even try to extort money from you if you present them with the criminal to arrest. The whole system is a complete farce. It is not the one hand not knowing what the other is doing but rather no hand willing to help the body but serving itself.

How can Thailand see itself - it is a backward outlier put there by the greed of its powerful families and the apathy of its people. It could be a great nation if anyone actually cared about the nation, for all the bleating and flag saluting it is plain the people do not work to the benefit of the country at all - only their selfish selves.

Read Forbes magazine on line this week. It will be banned in Thailand but it is a very good article.

I am not sure it is a 'good' article or rather two articles from December 22, though pretty much on the money in many respects. The simple fact is that Thaksin was a corrupt selfish leader who enriched himself and his cronies and used a thriving global economy for their gain rather than the country's. The simple fact is that Suthep and his gang though opposing something bad in Thaksin (though it must also be acknowledged he did much that was good in amongst his scamming), used a naive population to help destroy the surrogate government of Yingluck. As bad as that was (the rice scheme was a blatantly treasonous piece of corruption), Suthep's aim was no more democratic than Thaksin's was corrupt. And now we have the junta of which no criticism can be leveled though which I think it may be said is certainly not a perfect solution.

The thing is all these versions of self-interest gave benefits to the country amid the less desirable disbenefits which totally overwhelm anything good and which have been totally self absorbed, which is unsurprising since that is exactly the trait of Thai people and results in the society which has a lack of balance and fairness.

It is no surprise that China has been naively adopted as a husband to Thailand at the expense of the a West. Unfortunately I think the husband will turn out to be an abusive one from which there will be no alimony in divorce after the wife realizes she has just been used as a receptacle with the great Chinese train / trade route the replacement for sperm.and one day will realise that the theft of her natural resources has left her, once beautiful, now rather ugly.

[jpeg]

That Forbes article is such a one sided, blatant red shirt propaganda piece of turd article. The article spouts rhetoric from a man that probably spent a week here, no real knowledge of the history or evolution of what goes on in this country. My read on it is it was written by some one with no true understanding. Real journalism provides information of both sides of an issue and doesn't inject the writers personal beliefs. Real journalists can write a piece from a neutral perspective and let the reader decide. Obviously this guy isn't a journalist, he is a propaganda machine, much like Fox News .

Admittedly it wasn't written by Bob Woodward, and it does come off as a Jonathan Head piece initially, but the writer does go on to say Taksin was as tricky as Dicky after a para or two.

[DoctorB]

That Forbes article is such a one sided, blatant red shirt propaganda piece of turd article. The article spouts rhetoric from a man that probably spent a week here, no real knowledge of the history or evolution of what goes on in this country. My read on it is it was written by some one with no true understanding. Real journalism provides information of both sides of an issue and doesn't inject the writers personal beliefs. Real journalists can write a piece from a neutral perspective and let the reader decide. Obviously this guy isn't a journalist, he is a propaganda machine, much like Fox News .

Unfortunately, despite your blisteringly intemperate opinion, the facts as laid out in the article are essentially correct.

You might also like to consider the idea that dividing reactions from the outside world as simply red shirt or yellow shirt is preposterous.

Forbes is an investment magazine with an international readership, where the main criteria for judgement are free market economics in a democratic context, and to suggest that their correspondent would view events throught the prism of Thai village politics is absurd. You might not like global capitalism but it has brought more freedom and prosperity to more people that any authoritarian military junta ever has.