Secret list of “influential people’ drawn up
PHUKET: A confidential blacklist of “influential people” in Phuket’s criminal underworld has been drawn up as part of a nationwide government campaign to monitor individuals who “pose a threat to society”.
Phuket Vice-Governor Tri Augkaradacha yesterday met senior provincial officers at Provincial Hall to finalize the list before sending it to Phuket Governor Niran Kalayanamit for approval.
The final list was compiled based on whether individuals are known to be involved in any of 18 criminal activities, including offenses related to drugs, gambling, illegal migrant laborers, smuggling, hiring hitmen and Phuket’s taxi “mafia”, said V/Gov Tri.
“To be on the list, an individual must also have a network of people working for him or her, or be known to have the support of a powerful person, such as a government officer,” he added.
It was not revealed how many names are on the list or whether those blacklisted have been convicted of crimes.
The district chief and police superintendents of each of Phuket’s three districts – Muang, Thalang and Kathu – compiled and passed on to the provincial committee a list of known “influential people” in their respective districts.
“The governor and the provincial police commander must now sign and confirm the list,” he said.
“We will be monitoring all of the people on the list so that if there are any crimes we think they are involved in, we can easily arrest them,” he added.
Although the list will not be released to the media, V/Gov Tri confirmed that all the people on the list live in Phuket.
The list is similar to blacklists drawn up by the government during Thailand’s war on drugs under the Thaksin regime. Blacklisted individuals were targeted as part of an intensive nationwide crackdown on drugs, which saw extra-judicial killings by police of more than 2,000 alleged drug dealers.
Thailand’s latest war on drugs began on April 2 this year, although neither Governor Niran nor V/Gov Tri were available to confirm or deny a link to this latest blacklist.
