The Metropolitan Police Bureau is considering taking action against five officers who were allegedly involved in a plot to help TV actress and former Miss Teen Thailand, Amelia “Amy” Jacobs, escape serious drug charges.
Jacobs, 29, and her boyfriend Punyawat Hirantecha, 41, were arrested in September last year for possession, use, and sale of crystal methamphetamine and ecstasy pills.
While Punyawat was sentenced to 25 years in prison as a result of his confession, Jacobs only received a suspended three-month jail term for drug use.
However, irregularities are believed to have influenced the police's investigation against Jacobs when Atchariya Ruangrattanapong, chairman of the Help Crime Victim Club, lodged a complaint with acting city police chief Sutthiphong Wongpin against the alleged involvement of five police officers.
An initial probe found the accusation has grounds, Pol Lt Gen Sutthiphong said yesterday, admitting “five officers allegedly got involved”.
He did not name the officers, saying only that two of them were in the arrest team, two were inquiry officers and the other was attached to Sala Daeng police station.
According to Mr Atchariya, among the five officers was a deputy police inspector from Thammasala police station, who is accused of colluding in a plot to sell an “arrest record” for 1.5 million baht to help a major drug suspect.
“We’re looking into how serious [the officers’] mistakes were,” Pol Lt Gen Sutthiphong said.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon addressed questions over the police's alleged involvement in the drug trade at an illegal pub in Saraburi which drew a large number of underage customers.
He also dismissed speculation that current drug trafficking is linked with a need to make money for use during next year’s election, saying “media crews are thinking too much about the issue”.
Gen Prawit, also defence minister, was speaking after the latest anti-drug crackdown led to the raid on the pub, which was run illegally on Suwannason Road in Saraburi’s Nong Khae district.
According to officers, 131 pub-goers tested positive for narcotic use. Many drugs and drug paraphernalia were also seized.
A further check found that 123 individuals were under 20.
Gen Prawit said the operation was part of countrywide drug crackdown. This effort, he added, has resulted in the “arrest of a large number of suspects”.
Saraburi authorities were alerted to the pub after a tip-off that drugs were being distributed in the area.
An initial investigation found no involvement of police officers, Gen Prawit insisted.
Drug busts also took place earlier this week in Chiang Mai involving two drug couriers who were preparing to transport 700,000 methamphetamine pills to Sing Buri, which is also located in the Central region.
Officers from Provincial Police Region 5, which oversees the North, first nabbed a haulage driver identified as Prawit Khueankham, in a sting operation on Wednesday before arresting his alleged accomplice on Thursday.
