Provincial Police Region 9 authorities are investigating the alleged abduction of a Pattani police officer and his five friends for a 500,000-baht ransom in Hat Yai by a group of men claiming to be police.
At least three of those being sought have been identified as police officers, investigators say.
Pol Cpl Sanyalak Chandam, from the Kapho station in Pattani, on Saturday filed a complaint with Pol Capt Dechawat Makha at the Hat Yai station against those involved. That came two days after he approached Pol Maj Gen Pho Suaysuwan, deputy chief of Provincial Police Region 9, seeking action in connection with the incident, which happened in March.
The officer from Pattani alleges that a group of about 10 men, claiming to be investigators from the regional police office, seized his two pistols, forced him and five civilian friends into a pickup truck and took them to a house in Hat Yai on March 26.
The kidnappers, he said, demanded 500,000 baht in ransom but he managed to negotiate the sum down to 200,000 baht. He said he paid the men partly in cash and left his car as a guarantee for payment of the remaining 80,000 baht before he and his friends were released. The gang also returned his pistols to him.
When he brought the money to get his car back, he said, the gang refused to return it. The men claimed they had sold the car to a drug gang in Yala for 200,000 baht. If he wanted the car back, he had to pay 200,000 baht in cash plus monthly interest of 10%.
According to Pol Cpl Sanyalak, he also received threatening messages from a woman who acted as a go-between in the negotiations. She wrote that the gang would plant drugs in his car and press charges against him if he told police.
Pol Cpl Sanyalak on Saturday submitted evidence, including screenshots of the messages on his mobile phone and other documents, to Hat Yai police.
Police said they had already identified four of the gang members. Three were police officers and the other was their female contact. Their names were not disclosed.
Pol Lt Gen Ronnasil Phusara, chief of Provincial Police Region 9, has also set up a committee to investigate the case. He vowed to take criminal and disciplinary action against those involved if they are found guilty.
