Pattaya Police Chief cleared of vice slurs, back on duty

Troubled Pattaya Police chief Pol Col Kunlachart Kunlachai has been reinstated after being temporarily placed in an inactive post following allegations the top cop forced a Kyrgyzstani woman into prostitution. The woman later committed suicide.

Pol Col Kunlachart is set to return to Pattaya Police headquarters immediately, following a September 30 order by Pol Maj Gen Attasit Kitchahan, commander-in-chief of Chon Buri province.

The role of Pattaya Police Chief is traditionally one of the most important police postings in the country, due to the city’s importance to tourism. Pattaya is the third most-visited place in Thailand.

After a number of short-term appointments, Col Kunlachart took up the post in December 2020 while Pattaya was still dealing with the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. The city had only just ended an eight-month-long alcohol ban.

Col Kunlachart was transferred to a non-job two weeks ago after a woman plunged to her death from a hotel room. Law enforcement arrived at the hotel to find a foreign woman who was later identified as a 30-year-old Kyrgyzstani woman, on the pavement outside the hotel. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

The woman had previously filed a report to police on what she claimed was a Chinese gangster who she said had cheated her and forced her into prostitution in Pattaya.

Col Kunlachai went up to the room on the seventh floor where the woman had been staying and interviewed an American national who claimed the woman was a friend of his ex-girlfriend who had said she needed a place to hide.

The officer reportedly had been under review during the suspension period and was ultimately found neither responsible for the alleged trafficking incident nor the police response.

SOURCE Pattaya News