Prayut is serious with mafia crackdown

[webfact]

Prayut is serious with mafia crackdown



BANGKOK: -- Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-Ocha made clear yesterday that his announcement to crack down on "local mafias" was stemmed from the fact that they have no fear of law although under the military rule.

He cited the ongoing use of war weapon to commit crimes and disturb peace and order of the country, identify a recent case which local mafia from a loan shark opened fire into the house of a woman after debt could not be collected.

He said he could hardly tolerate such unruly threat by these people.

Gen Prayut made clear that his mafia crackdown which he expected to yield fruits in six month time had nothing to do with those political foes saying it was different matter.

Political opponents are not his enemy but those bad guys using war weapons to commit crimes, he said.

He said wrongdoing politicians should prove their innocence under the justice system, and not just plan rally to give morale support to certain politician.

He confirmed that a committee to crackdown on so called ‘influential people’ or mafia figures would be appointed and within the next six months, it should have seen results.

He said there was no need for any special laws for such an action, and stated that this was to address a pressing need to prevent these groups from getting their hands on heavy weaponry.

“Hearing of these people using such weapons to hurt and threaten civilians or people who owe them money is intolerable to me! Who can tolerate such a thing! What gives them the right to just shoot anyone they choose? And while this government is in power! This is why I have decided to set up the committee.”

He went on saying that he didn’t have a personal grudge on anyone in particular. “That is ridiculous accusation,” in reply to question that some critics said the crackdown was aimed at suppressing his political foes.

“This concerns the law! This concerns the murder of civilians using heavy weapons. Don’t you all recall what such weapons did to the country recently? We must not allow such weapons to fall into the wrong hands. And where did these weapons come from? It must have come from somewhere!”

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/prayut-is-serious-with-mafia-crackdown


-- Thai PBS 2015-10-27

[WhizBang]

No he is NOT. If he was serious he would be going after the biggest mafia organizations in the country... the POLICE and Military.

But that would be stepping on too many toes.

[jaidam]

Will he start by catching himself?

http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.php?newsid=1415098178

[NongKhaiKid]

He can be serious when necessary, look how serious he was when he said the wealth of NCPO members was off limits.

Now this serious man is to oversee a crackdown against the mafia ?

[NongKhaiKid]

Will he start by catching himself?

http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.php?newsid=1415098178

Note To Self - include this in the amnesty I granted when I seized power.

[Snig27]

Isn't this the same man who said the evidence against those Burmese boys was solid?

Now, where exactly did he get his money from?

[dageurreotype]

He couldn't even wrest control from the many vested interests here on little Phuket and he's talking about 'countrywide'? Pathetic.

[Somtamnication]

If he was serious, he would not have announced it and given warnings to the very people he wants caught.

[BigBadGeordie]

I am please he has cleared that up, good that he is serious. He is such a comedian one can never be sure which statements are just jokes, you know, like, police corruption, beach clean up, etc. etc.

And of course his long running show (now available to download from the Comedy Channel) "Returning Happiness".

[Lampang2]

If he was serious, he would not have announced it and given warnings to the very people he wants caught.

Maffia doesn't go away from one day to another because you say boo.

Rest assured maffia will be around even tomorrow.

[daoyai]

Brute force mafia street enforcers "using military grade weapons" are the target, that eliminates 99.9% of mafia opperations from the crackdown.

[phoenixdoglover]

Brute force mafia street enforcers "using military grade weapons" are the target, that eliminates 99.9% of mafia opperations from the crackdown.

Exactly. The PM is stoking fear. Always a nice way to get support for crackdowns.

[ldiablo]

Will he start by catching himself?

http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.php?newsid=1415098178

He even stated in that article that he is not a businessman, yet he appoints himself to run a country. Go figure!!!

[FloridaExport]

If all the beggars run by the mafia disappear, I'll believe this might have merit. Until then I'll take it with the usual grain of salt.

[DrTuner]

Why so serious?

[Hawk]

Why does it takes 6 months just to form a committee? Then what? A few warnings issued? Or no action will ever be taken!

[EnglishJohn]

What a pathetic set of comments.

Whichever side launches a crackdown, the other will try to use it for their own political game. Even when the video evidence is quite clear (like 2010), there are plenty of ignorants who will believe it simply because they want to.

The point is that he is at least trying to do something about it which is more than the dirty cronies ever did (unless you include the thousands murdered in the drugs war - how many opponents went during that one ?).

His job would be a lot easier if the tomato police were not dirty and corrupt to the core like their masters were. Did you notice how the only successful raids are by the Army ?. The cops make sure they get paid off by everyone and somehow always find an empty room ..

Thailand so corrupt, it will take decades to flush it out. This is the first time in 10 years I have seen anyone actually try and start. It's clear a large section of society don't want things to change. I expect the percentage is roughly the same as those taking dirty money and those who have to pay it.

[Hawk]

"He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother"

The man ain't serious at all.

[Briggsy]

Perhaps he could go after the retired General who commanded the military mafia group who beat and shot at villagers in Loei's Wang Saphung district who were protesting at pollution of their water sources with arsenic from the local gold mine operated by Thung Kham Ltd.

Nah? Didn't think so.

[huangnon]

He must have sort of unemployment benefit scheme waiting in the wings?

[gk10002000]

Yeah but unless a sustained long term and populace agreed to policy is followed, all that will happen is the Mafia will get more ruthless and squeeze the people more as the mafia has to pay more to stay out of trouble. And without any sort of civilian court or proper judicial review system or oversight, the Military is not likely to stay clean. Has never happened in any place I know of. Take Russia for example. Putin took over with an iron hand. Russian mafia got a bit less prevalent but a lot more brutal.

[mikemac]

Lots of pointless comments so far, as usual. Unless you actually think the PM reads them.

[Lupatria]

There is no mafia here. Why not? Because we have a police!

[Lupatria]

Lots of pointless comments so far, as usual. Unless you actually think the PM reads them.

Welcome to the club!

[Eric Loh]

Just another version of the war on drugs. Nothing new here.

[oneday]

I think I've got these crackdowns figured out.

It's like when governments chose certain days of the year to be special days...like "Earth Day" or "No Plastic Bag Day".

The RTP has chosen to only enforce laws during specially selected days of the year. I think next week is "Loan Shark" week. So the police go to work and look at their special calendar to find out which law they are supposed to enforce that day. Kind of efficient if you think about it...they only have to worry about one law or group of criminals for each day of the year.

Edited October 27, 2015 by oneday

[soalbundy]

so was Mussolini, didn't help him either.

[Thai at Heart]

Oh good.

[Deli]

If this is as serious as the crackdown on Phuket Taxi Mafia, a children's birthday party is a very serious thing

[tonysilly]

Many negative comments, because they are true.