Ministry probes rented electronic monitoring ankle bracelets from China

The Thai Justice Ministry is investigating the electronic monitoring ankle bracelets rented by the Department of Probation from a Chinese company. A Thai company has complained that the device can be removed by the offenders wearing them without the department being alerted.

Thai PBS reports that the complaint was filed by Aekkaphol Kongphutorn, representative of Fort Corporation, one of the bidders for a contract to rent EM ankle bracelets to the Department of Probation. The complaint has already been received by Justice Department officials.

Department officials say that the justice minister had already acknowledged the complaint and a probe will be launched to look into the terms of reference for the contract bidding process to determine whether the rented devices do what they’re meant to do and cannot be removed.

It was reported that the Probation Department had rented 4,000 sets of the devices for use under a 21 month contract starting in January this year. The department director-general Prasarn Mahaleetrakul is expected to brief the justice minister about the use of EM ankle bracelets and the controversy regarding the devices rented from China.

SOURCE: Thai PBS