‘Big Joke’: Village headman won’t get off the hook

Updated

DEPUTY National Police Chief Pol. Lt. Gen. Surachate Hakparn, nicknamed Big Joke, said after meeting Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin today (Sep. 10) that a former village headman arrested over the murder of a policeman at party in his house will not walk free as there is strong evidence against him with the surveillance camera server having been recovered, Sanook.com said.

After being briefed about this case Srettha told him to strongly crack down on mafia and those wielding influence in certain areas so that people feel safe.

He added that the wet server of surveillance cameras at the house of former village headman Mr. Praween Chanklai, or Kamnan Nok, 34, where Mr. Thananchai Manmak, or Nong Thapha, 45, killed Pol. Maj. Siwakorn Saibua and injured Pol. Lt. Col. Wasin Panpee has been dried but it will take three to four days to retrieve the information.

However Praween’s assets have not been seized so far because this does not fall in the scope of the offence he is charged with. Even so it has still to be checked whether he conspired with others in bidding for projects and whether he was involved with money laundering.

Pol. Lt. Gen. Surachate also said that the approximately 25 policemen who attended this party could be divided into three groups. The first group are those who just ran away which is dereliction of duty.

The second group destroyed the evidence and helped the village headman escape. The third group took the injured policeman to hospital and they had to be treated fairly.

He added that this case is not complicated and should be wrapped up in a week’s time.

Meanwhile Pol. Maj. Gen. Charoonkiat Pankaew, acting Highway Police commander, today signed an order temporarily dismissing four policemen under his command who had been arrested in this case.

This follows the temporary dismissal of two other arrested policemen by police commanders of Nakhon Pathom and Samut Sakhon provinces respectively, taking the total to six.

CAPTION:

Top and Front Page: One of six policemen being arrested in the murder of his colleague at a party in the house of Mr. Praween Chanklai, or Kamnan Nok. Photos: Sanook.com

Also read: Update: 4 policemen face arrest in colleague’s murder

Former village headman ‘ordered policeman shot dead in the middle of the party’: Police

25 policemen who attended party where colleague was shot dead transferred

Big hunt for gunman who killed a policeman for refusing a transfer

NOTE: This report has been updated to state that the six policemen arrested in the murder of their colleague were temporarily dismissed and not suspended. We regret this translation error.