Chalong top cop out after Phuket divers’ extortion charges

PHUKET: Graft charges levied against Chalong Police officers by the dive community have resulted in the transfer of the Superintendent of the Chalong Police Station to Thalang.

“I moved Col Krittapas Dazintharasorn out of Chalong partly because of the extortion charges (story here), but also because he has been there a long time and developed close relationships with his men, which makes it hard for him to maintain discipline,” Phuket Provincial Police Commander Ong-art Phiewruangnont told the Phuket Gazette today.

Thalang Police Superintendent Sirisak Wasasiri was transferred to Chalong to take over the station.

The investigation by the Public-sector Anti Corruption Commission (PACC) officials (story here) of Col Krittapas Dazintharasorn and the Chalong Police stems from events that occurred on March 10, when 20 foreign dive instructors were rounded up at Chalong Pier and taken to the Chalong Police station. At the station they were not charged for any crimes, but were asked for money (story here), according to the Association of Thailand for Underwater Sports (ATUS).

— Saran Mitrarat