THE CRIMINAL Court has approved eight arrest warrants for Pol Lt-Colonel Santhana Prayoonrat, a former deputy superintendent of the Special Branch Police Division, over separate allegations of extortion at the Donmuang Modern Market in Bangkok’s Don Muang district.

Santhana, whose condominium unit in Soi Phaholyothin 8 was searched by a SWAT team and other police officers yesterday afternoon as per a court-approved search warrant, insisted he would surrender at Don Muang Police Station today.

Dismissing rumours he had fled, the adviser to the operator of Donmuang Modern Market said he was pre-occupied upcountry as of press time.

Tourist Police deputy commander Pol Maj-General Surachet Hakpan led the search of the condo, which involved breaking down the door, in search of evidence.

Surachet said that 10 of Santhana’s alleged accomplices also faced arrest warrants. “We are taking actions against a gang that allegedly extorted money from vendors at the market on various occasions,” he said, adding that the extortionists also resorted to destroying people’s properties to threaten them to pay up.

“We have already interviewed more than 200 vendors,” he said. If the investigation found additional individuals involved, arrest warrants would be issued for them accordingly, Surachet said. Police were contacting the Anti-Money Laundering Office to probe money transactions involving the suspects, as extortion is an offence under the anti-money laundering law. “Thailand must have no Mafia-styled figures, no protection money or extortion,” he said.

Earlier this month, Santhana confronted a senior police officer who had led a team to search the market on suspicion that some shops were selling sub-standard products.

The police team investigating sub-standard cosmetics and food supplements at Donmuang Modern Market will be led by national police deputy chief Pol General Rungroj Saengkhram, while deputy Pol General Weerachai Songmetta will serve as the team’s vice chair, said national police chief Pol General Chakthip Chaijinda yesterday.

Chakthip said police would fairly and carefully probe the market and the alleged offences including extortion by “dark” influential figures.

He said the case against Santhana would be as per the law and course of justice.

Chakthip also said that Weerachai would still be in charge of the separate police investigation of Magic Skin Co’s alleged sub-standard products.

Patchareewan Kanha called a press conference to issue the denial, after several pictures of her with other men emerged on the Internet following her decision to announce that she and Srisaket had split.

“We have been separated for some time and during our separation, both of us have been seeing someone else,” she said.

She said had she been a bad woman, Srisaket would have not remained on good terms with her.

“We did not end our relationship because of a love triangle. We just could not adjust ourselves to each other any more,” she said.

She also denied reports that her greed over his money had led to big quarrels.

“No, that’s not true,” she said.

Earlier this month Srisaket, whose real name is Wisaksil Wang-ek, had already tried out the wedding clothes as he still expected to marry his long-time girlfriend as scheduled next week.

The couple had been together for about 14 years and had endured the toughest times together.

When they were younger and poorer, Srisaket even used to search for leftover food chucked by a local restaurant for the two of them to survive on. He proposed to her last September, after returning from a successful defence of his super-flyweight world crown in New York.

Srisaket gave a short interview about the sudden break-up on Thursday.

“I don’t have another woman. I am always in training,” the boxer said.

Srisaket said he did not know why his girlfriend wanted to end the relationship and said it had ended just a few days earlier.

It was reported that following the break-up, Srisaket briefly posted a message saying: “I feel like I have been a fool for so long. Just as I’ve said earlier, I have never abandoned anyone”.

The message also reportedly drew an outpouring of sympathy for the fighter but it had been withdrawn by press time yesterday.

Srisaket’s Facebook page still featured a cover photo of him kissing Patchareewan on the cheek.

He described himself as an “engaged man” and chose to describe himself with words: “If you love your life, do not fight your wife.”

Patchareewan, meanwhile, has now described her status as “single”.

Her Facebook description says: “Walking alone is not as frightening as it seems.”

There is much speculation she has already found herself a new boyfriend after she |posted a picture of herself with a man on Thursday.

“No, we are just seeing each other,” she said. “The relationship has not yet developed into girlfriend-boyfriend status.”

Sompong Wiengkaew, deputy BMA city clerk, said the study would be sped up so that it could be completed in June.

Sompong was speaking during a meeting on the progress of a project to drive concrete electric poles into the Bang Khunthien sea as the first stage in the project to slow coastal erosion.

Sompong said the pole-driving project would need to be done before the construction of the embankment could start.

According to Sompong, the 4.7-kilometre-long coast has seen some 900 to 1,000 metres of land eroded by strong waves from 1975 to 2013 – about seven metres yearly. He said the area was also subsiding at the rate of one to two centimetres yearly.

Sompong said the project has so far driven 1,300 concrete poles donated by the Metropolitan Electricity Authority into the sea in groups of 10 poles each. The 10 poles are formed into triangle, pointing to the sea to slow down waves. The poles had to be left partially above the water to warn fishing boats to keep away.

Sompong said the project would need 23,500 more poles to fill the entire 4.7-km coastal sea.

The delay resulted from a guilty plea from one of the defendants, Pol Sergeant Major Wanphadet Thaenrat, who is hoping for a lighter sentence.

The 10 other officers have maintained their innocence.

All 11 defendants, who have been free on bail, were in court on Friday, but the plaintiff was not.

The reading of the Supreme Court verdict was first postponed on March 22 because defendants Pol Colonel Saming Rodratsa and Pol Sergeant Major Sasithorn Thapsuree were absent due to illness.

Saming held a major’s rank at the time of the incident and was inspector at Phayathai station, where all of the accused worked.

Krongkan Thin-on filed suit against the 11 officers following the June 16, 2005, incident, accusing them of abusing their authority, forging documents in a criminal case, filing a false drug charge, coercion by threat to life, liberty or property, and illegal detention.

She contends the officers arrested her without a warrant, using force and weapons. She claims they demanded that she confess to possessing 100 methamphetamine pills with intent to sell.

Krongkan claims she refused to confess and was taken to her warehouse, which was searched but contained nothing illegal. She says the officers then conspired to produce an arrest report and related documents and forced her to sign a confession.

The Primary Court in December 2009 found six of the officers guilty on all charges – Wanphadet, Saming, Saming’s deputy inspector at the time Pol Lt Colonel Pansak Woraboonsawat (then a captain), Pol Sergeant Major Boonreung Butwong, Pol Sergeant Major Rung Thipkham and Pol Corporal Sutham Yaemchauy.

They were sentenced to five years’ imprisonment.

Sasithorn and Pol Sergeant Major Auychai Thapsuree and Sasithorn got four years for abuse of authority and producing forged documents as state officials.

Pol Captain Kittipong Simmalee and Pol Sergeants Major Pinyo Saengthip and Apitak Kaewkleun were acquitted.

The Appeals Court in August 2013 reduced the sentences for Saming, Pansak, Boonreung and Wanphadet to four years and for Rung and Sutham to three years and acquitted Auychai and Sasithorn, while upholding the acquittal of the other three men.

The tickets can result in fines of up to Bt1,000.

Pol Col Kitti Ariyanon, deputy commander of the traffic unit, said that, on the first day alone, Wednesday, 27,514 tickets were handed out, mostly to motorcyclists.

Offenders were caught in the act by a Lane Change Camera System, which involves four automatic cameras at each location.

Eighty per cent of the offences occurred in daylight hours, Kitti said.

On Wednesday, most offences were recorded on the Siriraj Bridge on the outbound lane of Aroon Amarin Road, followed by the bridge at the Din Daeng intersection on the inbound lane of Din Daeng Road and the Huay Kwang tunnel alongside the inbound lane of Ratchadapisek Road.

Kitti noted that the number of violations on Wednesday far exceeded the daily average rate of 7,000 offences during a one-month trial run.

He expressed hope that the number will drop dramatically once more motorists learn about the camera system, as occurred at the flyover at the Government Complex alongside the outbound lane of Chaeng Wattana Road thanks to a police public relations campaign.