Police have set up several different panels to probe a police lieutenant arrested on charges of robbing a gold shop in Thung Yai district in Nakhon Si Thammarat.
Pol Lt Meechai Chorsom of the Nong Chik police station under arrest on robbery charges. He denies any knowledge of the crime.
Royal Thai Police deputy spokesman Pol Col Kritsana Pattanacharoen said Pol Lt Meechai Chorsom, 37, is under internal investigations by the police agency after he was arrested at the Nong Chik police station in Nong Chik district, Pattani, on Friday for allegedly robbing the Jiraporn gold shop in Thung Yai on Wednesday.
He took only one minute to make off with 20-baht weight (304 grammes) of gold ornaments - worth about 400,000 baht - by forcing a saleswoman at gunpoint to hand them over to him before fleeing on a motorcycle, it was alleged.
The police officer denies the accusations.
The deputy spokesman said a panel is looking into the possibility that Pol Lt Meechai used a pistol stolen from the police agency. A fact-finding committee is working on the robbery case, and Pol Col Kritsana could be forced to resign or expelled from the agency if he is found guilty. Another panel is investigating whether his boss may have failed to give him adequate supervision, Pol Col Kritsana added.
Pol Lt Meechai is detained at the Nong Chik police station, where he worked, and will be taken for further questioning to the Thung Yai police station on Sunday.
Nakhon Si Thammarat police chief Pol Maj Gen Wanchai Ekpornpich on Sunday reiterated that he was confident that investigators could prove a case against him.
- Earlier report: Policeman held in gold shop heist
