Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Bomb disposal veteran killed; Business says no to blanket amnesty; Drug mule caught with 7kg of cocaine

– Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community

PHUKET: Pol Sub-Lt Shaen Warongphaisit, a police bomb-disposal veteran whose face was familiar to both locals and reporters covering the South insurgency, was yesterday laid to rest from his tiring and dangerous job after succumbing to severe injuries from a bomb explosion.

The bomb exploded while he was trying to defuse another at a site in Narathiwat’s Bacho district. The explosion also killed Pol Sub Lieutenant Charoon Mekmaung and Pol Sergeant Nimit Deewong, who were part of the explosive ordnance disposal team, and wounded a Navy disposal expert known only as Chief Petty Officer First Class Somkiat.

Yesterday’s toll brought the total number of casualties this year to six deaths and 15 injured. Provincial police chief, Pol Maj-General Phatthanawut Angkhanawin, said this was possibly an insurgency-related set-up targeting EOD police and military personnel.

The bomb was detonated by a two-way radio, while the first, possibly planted as a decoy, was being defused by Shaen, 50.

The late officer had spent the past decade defusing more than 200 bombs in the deep South. Fellow team members and his superiors – both past and present – were disheartened to hear of the losses, especially Shaen’s death.

Shaen and Charoon survived, but sustained severe injuries, in a similar bomb incident in June 2011, in which three explosives were planted with the aim to trap and kill.

Shaen, whose vast experience and demeanour led him to become widely liked by the local population and well-known to both local and national media, received an award from Nation Multimedia Group four years ago as an Outstanding Policeman. The award was handed to him on the annual Police Day, which is marked every year on October 13.
A 1985 graduate of a constabulary school in the deep South, Shaen served mostly on the field doing combat-related duties. He held non-commissioned ranks and was promoted to sub-lieutenant in June 2001. A Narathiwat native, Shaen was of Chinese descent and previously went by the surname of sae-Wong. He is survived by his wife Nanthawan and two children.

PHUKET: The Anti-corruption Organisation of Thailand (ACT), an alliance of private-sector groups, has stepped forward to oppose granting a blanket amnesty for those involved in the 2010 political turmoil that left more than 90 people dead.

The ACT includes finance and business organisations such as the Board of Trade, Federation of Thai Industries, Thai Bankers Association, the Securities and Exchange Commission, Thai Institute of Directors, Federation of Thai Capital Market Organisations, the Thai Listed Companies Association, and the Association of Thai Securities Companies.

This development came as a panel of Pheu Thai strategists agreed yesterday with plans for a party resolution to back the blanket amnesty, as proposed by the House committee vetting the government-proposed amnesty bill.

“Revising Article 3 to allow amnesty for graft offences will create the false value that cheating is not wrong,” ACT chairman Pramon Sutivong said yesterday.

Pramon said relevant parties should be mindful that an amnesty would destroy the country’s moral and ethical code, and do untold damage to society.

The government had pledged to root out corruption, as evidenced by its announcement of July 2, but the amnesty bill would do completely the opposite of that pledge, he said. He said anti-corruption advocates had mapped out retaliatory measures to take should the bill become law.

The ACT said it would today submit a letter to the United Nations office in Bangkok, in protest at the change to the amnesty bill so that it grants a blanket pardon.

In a related development, the House committee vetting the bill has finalised its endorsement of the minutes of its meetings, thus concluding its work.

The committee report would be checked for typographical errors before being forwarded to the House Speaker to place on the legislative agenda, Pheu Thai MP Chavalit Wichayasut said.

Report expected this week

Chair of the vetting committee Samart Kaewmeechai said the exclusion of lese majeste from the amnesty was justified because offenders had violated the monarchy, which by constitutional provisions had no link to the political mayhem.

Samart was commenting on a statement made by law lecturer Vorachet Pakeerat of the Nitirat Group.

Vorachet said that the amnesty might be arbitrary and unconstitutional because it did not apply to those offending the monarchy.

Article 30 of the Constitution states that legal provisions should be equally applicable to all without discrimination.

Vorachet has scheduled a press conference on Thursday to outline what he says are flaws in the amnesty bill.

Yesterday, Pheu Thai’s panel of strategists convened to discuss the party’s stance on the proposed change to the original bill so that it would grant a blanket amnesty, according to a party source. The meeting was chaired by Pheu Thai leader Charupong Ruangsuwan, who is also Interior minister.

The panel agreed that all Pheu Thai MPs should vote in support of the new version of the bill changed by vetting committee, which is dominated by coalition MPs, according to the source. The panel claimed an amnesty law would lead to national reconciliation, the source said.

In response to reports some red-shirt Pheu Thai MPs might vote against a blanket amnesty, the panel agreed they should respect the party resolution on the matter. However, the panel also forecast that government critics and detractors would attempt to play up this issue in a bid to bring down the government, the source said.

Pheu Thai MP Korkaew Pikulthong, who is a red-shirt leader, said yesterday that the red shirts were split on whether to support or to oppose the blanket amnesty. He said he would “feel pained” if Pheu Thai went ahead with the blanket amnesty, but he would not take to the streets to protest against it.

An influential politician in the ruling party met with its red-shirt politicians Jatuporn Prompan and Nattawut Saikua last Friday and asked them to help secure ex-PM Thaksin Shinawatra’s return to Thailand, according to another Pheu Thai source. The politician pleaded in tears for the red-shirt MPs’ help, saying that Thaksin “has been suffering for many years already”, the source said.

PHUKET: The Customs Department yesterday announced the arrest of a 23-year-old Thai woman who was found with seven kilograms of cocaine worth Bt31 million at Don Mueang Airport.

Department chief Rakop Srisupaat said that, following intelligence that a suspect would smuggle drugs into Thailand via the airport, the officials apprehended Thitiruk Tingtin on Sunday night, after she was seen acting suspiciously.

They found the cocaine hidden in her luggage. She reportedly confessed that she was hired for Bt20,000 per trip to transport cocaine from the Philippines. She was charged with possessing illicit drugs with intention to sell

— Phuket Gazette Editors

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