Cop heading South vows to be “careful’

PHUKET: The 26th police officer seconded from Phuket to the turbulent South of the country left today for Narathiwat, vowing to be “very careful” after yesterday’s gun battles resulted in more than 100 deaths. Pol Capt Sanya Potchsalee, 32, Deputy-Inspector of Phuket Tourist Police, has been detailed to join a new unit of Tourist Police that has been established at Sungai Golok, on the border with Malaysia. “I decided to accept the posting because I want to help the new unit that has just opened,” he told the Gazette just before leaving today. “I will be helping down there for about a month, though if they still need me I may have to stay longer,” Capt Sanya said. “I admit I’m afraid, but I want to be brave about this. I will be very careful. I was shocked by what happened yesterday – too many people died – and it scared me, but at least the number of attackers is fewer now. “I do worry, however, that there may be others who are now even more angry after what happened, and that they will band together and try again,” he added. Capt Sanya has been in Phuket for about six years. He is unmarried. “My parents aren’t worried because I haven’t told them I’m going,” he joked bleakly. Twenty-five other policemen from Phuket left recently for the South to beef up the security presence there in the face of escalating violence.