Top Samut Prakan cops transferred in shooting cover up

Four top cops in Samut Prakan province, an area well-known for illicit gambling, have been put on gardening leave following a shooting at an illegal gambling den.

Pol Col Termrat Jindawat, the station chief, was among those moved to an empty desk in the police operations centre after he claimed he had not been informed about the incident.

The others are Pol Lt Col Nakkhaphan Photha, deputy chief for crime suppression; Pol Lt Col Yodrak Kittilapnarat, crime suppression chief; and Pol Lt Col Vorasuwat Thaweeratchataphokhin, investigation chief.

An investigation has begun into the shooting.

On Thursday, a community group Sai Mai Tong Rod (Sai Mai District Must Survive) posted a report on Facebook that eight armed men had robbed a gambling den in Muang district on Wednesday night. A shootout left one person dead and one injured. “Thieves” reportedly got away with 400,000 baht (US$11,000).

Asked about the posting, Termrat said he had been not informed of any such robbery and shooting in his area.

Anti-corruption specialist Pol Gen Surachate “Big Joke” Hakparn, deputy national police chief, then spoke with the administrator of the Facebook page and sent his team to investigate. A man identified only as Aow, who owns a restaurant called Khrua Ban Lung claimed there was no illegal gambling in his restaurant. But investigators found that events had taken place more or less as described, except that no one had died.

Termrat later phoned Surachate and admitted that he had been aware of the shooting.

All of the suspects involved in the robbery have now been identified, national police chief Pol Gen Damrongsak Kittiprapas said on Saturday.

The news will come as a shock to Damrongsak who recently stated that there are no gambling establishments in Bangkok.