THE “front command” team, led by Deputy Defence Minister General Udomdech Sitabutr, will submit its road map to the Cabinet on Tuesday, according to team secretary Panu Uthairat.

The road map will help stop violence in the deep South next year as per the government’s goal, Panu told the press after the delegation’s meeting yesterday with related agencies at the Defence Ministry in Bangkok.

The head of the Committee to Mobilise Policy and Strategy to Solve Problems in the Southern Border Provinces’ Front Command Office, General Suthat Jarumanee, said the road map had seven working plans, including national security, development and public understanding.

They would select high-potential projects for the three main working plans to be implemented next year at all areas of the region, with some areas being more intense.

The road map – to be submitted today to Deputy PM General Prawit Wongsuwan – would announce its results every quarter, and by the second quarter some concrete results should be visible, he added.

Panu said the government’s “Triangle of Stability, Prosperity, and Sustainability” project to develop three model city districts of Nong Chik in Pattani, Betong in Yala, and Sungai Kolok in Narathiwat has progressed and received a good response from locals in the first three months of implementation.

Eighty-nine additional development projects worth Bt1.7 billion proposed by public-private sectors are pending. Each province would set up a subcommittee for the triangle project to help screen the projects, Panu added.

Another delegate, General Udomchai Thammasaroraj, said he and General Aksara Kerdphol, being in charge of the 7th working plan to find peaceful solutions for the conflict, had two key missions: the peace dialogue and the creation of an atmosphere for negotiations. They also aimed to bridge the gap between state agencies and the people to create two-way communication, he said.

Another delegate, General Prakan Cholayuth, said the meeting also discussed the use of civilians and semi-military manpower, established in 109 tambons since 2013 to aid and eventually take over the military’s task of tambon defence.

They found that manpower in the past three years was 80 per cent effective while the other 20 per cent required further training. The authorities also planned to expand anti-drug “strong community” villages from the existing 300 in 20 tambons to cover all 200 tambons, he added.

She was among 427 inmates released from Phetchaburi Prison yesterday morning.

Wisala was sentenced in 2013 to three years and four months for the theft of the Toyota pick-up truck of missing local couple Samart Noomjui and Orasa Kerdsap, while Supat was given a five-year prison term in absentia. Wisala finally went to prison in March last year.

Phetchaburi Provincial Court last year sentenced Supat in absentia and his eldest son Ake to death and his other son Akara to 25 years in prison for the premeditated murder of Myanmar worker called Ita in February 2004.

Ita’s remains, with a gunshot wound to the skull, were among three skeletons unearthed in Supat’s property in Phetchaburi’s Tha Yang district in 2012 by investigators who were searching for Samart and Orasa. It is believed that Supat allegedly murdered the couple.

The couple went missing, along with their Toyota pick-up, in June 2009 after reportedly having an argument with Supat.

There have been reports that Supat was captured at a border town in Myanmar opposite Tak’s Mae Sot district and Thai police are pushing for his extradition.

However, Tak immigration officers yesterday said they had not been in contact with their Myanmar counterparts about Supat’s extradition.

TSale of painkiller to be restricted amid teen craze

PIYANUCH THAMNUKASETCHAI,

PRATCH RUJIVANAROM

THE NATION

TOUGHER restrictions will be imposed on the sale of the painkiller tramadol to tackle drug misuse among teenagers, a director of the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) said yesterday.

Tramadol misuse and addiction among teenagers had been evident in Thailand since 2013.

Kanyanan Kongpatnitiroj, the ONCB Narcotics Analysis and Technical Service Institute director, warned that overuse can lead to serious side effects and withdrawal symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, seizures and coma.

Now the board will limit the number of pills that pharmacies can sell at any one time to 10.

Tramadol misuse among students and teenagers had become more problematic.

“Right now, the ONCB has been working with the Education Ministry to progress drug surveillance around schools in Bangkok and surrounding provinces. We have also notified the Pharmacy Association and registered pharmacies to sell no more than 10 tramadol pills at one time,” she said.

Tramadol was used in the wrong way by teenagers who were mixing a large amount of the drug with soft drinks, coffee, or alcoholic drinks. Those taking Tramadol this way may experience feelings of euphoria that make them crave more of the drug and can lead to addiction, she said.

When the drug is overused over a long time, severe side effects such as weakness in the limbs, seizure and coma can prove fatal.

According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), tramadol is a very useful medicine for treating moderate to severe pain. It is effective in relieving chronic widespread pain, cancer pain, and moderate-to-severe musculoskeletal pain.

Tramadol works by restraining the body’s absorption of serotonin and norepinephrine and increasing release of serotonin in the brain, causing the patient to feel less pain.

The FDA said that although tramadol is not as addictive as morphine, overuse can lead to addiction. It said use of the medicine should be under the control of a doctor and taken strictly as prescribed.

The regulatory body said the recommended dosage of tramadol is 50-100 milligrams once ever four to six hours, up to a maximum of 400 milligrams. Currently, tramadol is on the dangerous drugs list under the Medicine Act and pharmacies must register buyers and limit the amount sold.

Kanyanan said codeine and pentazocine were also misused by teenagers in a similar way.

“We have compiled useful words for everyday life in this app,” the office’s secretary-general, Kanokwalee Chuchaiya, said yesterday at the launch of the app.

Developed last year, the app is both IOS and Android-compatible, and covers all 10 Asean languages plus English. The app deal with more than 1,500 words in each language.

Apart from getting translations, users can also browse through the app’s database and pick up everyday words in 62 categories. To make things easier, the app even includes images.

“Each word is pronounced by a native speaker,” Kanokwalee said, adding the app would be very useful for students and people needing help with the basics of the languages. She said her office had begun working on the cultures and languages of the 10 Asean nations in 2013 in a move to prepare Thais for the Asean Community.

Apart from the app, the Office of the Royal Society has also produced radio shows such as “Enjoy Asean Languages” and published books on Asean languages and cultures.

Kanokwalee said her office would also publish 3,000 copies of an Asean vocabulary book for distribution to schools that have Asean languages in their curriculum as well as to relevant government agencies.

“When users point a smart |pen at a picture on the book, they will see how the word describing the picture is pronounced,” she said.

The acting abbot, identified as Phra Thammayanwites (Sutham Suthammo), had surrendered to Klong Luang Police on Tuesday to answer charges of harbouring the fugitive former abbot Phra Dhammachayo and neglecting to perform his duties as per the summonses.

The monk has to ask the court for bail or he could lose his saffron robes and face prosecution as a layperson, Department of Special Investigation (DSI)’s Pisitchai Sawangwattanakorn said.

Deputy national police chief Pol General Srivara Ransibrahamakul yesterday led a team of officials to inspect World Peace Muktawan monastic retreats in Phang Nga’s Koh Yao district.

Phases 1, 2 and 3 of the retreats, which are linked to the Dhammakaya Temple, were impounded pending investigation over their alleged encroachment into the Kuanjuk national forest.

Srirava said that 82 buildings at the three retreats had been built without permission and authorities would proceed with legal action accordingly. He said Phang Nga land officials would also be probed as soon as possible.

He said the Dhammakaya Temple network had allegedly encroached on at least 20 sites nationwide in the same manner. The three retreats were impounded along with its electricity poles and radio station pending further probes.

The deputy police chief, accompanied by police adviser Pol General Decha Chuaibunchum and related officials, said an investigation by the Natural Resources and Environmental Crime Suppression Division found that the Dhammakaya Foundation, chaired by Phra Dhammachayo, owned the 140-rai World Peace Muktawan 1 retreat.

However, about 40 rai of the retreat – comprising a 21-rai section located on the national forest and another 19-rai woodland – reportedly does not have proper land-ownership documents and has allegedly caused damages worth Bt2.7 million.

The retreat claimed to have Nor Sor 3 Kor land-rights documents for its 33 plots covering 140 rais – of which 28 plots were held by the foundation, four by a native of Loei’s Phu Rua named Phetch Kaensap and one by a woman called Nuanit Hongwiwat.

Srivara said the land-ownership document for Phetch’s 14-rai plot had been revoked since 2004 and Phetch was also the foundation’s nominee who was linked to other forestland encroachment cases, such as the World Peace Valley Loei monastic retreat.

Police also found 18 buildings in the Muktawan 1 compound, where a helicopter pad was reportedly torn down recently.

Srivara said he instructed forestry officials to check if the Tambon Koh Yao Administrative Organisation’s permission for the retreat to clear the area and construct buildings was legal and also check on the retreat’s tax payments.

He also revealed that officials found a 2-rai plot had changed many hands until it came into the foundation’s ownership and mysteriously enlarged to more than 15 rai.

As the foundation reportedly sold “Dhamma-practice” packages for between Bt1,900 and Bt5,900, it fell within the framework of using forestland for personal gain, Srivara said, adding that the Revenue Department would also look into the foundation’s tax payments.

He said the 162-rai Muktawan 2 retreat was under Phetch’s name and 82 rai of it allegedly encroached on the national forest, resulting in damages worth Bt5.6 million, while the 100-rai Muktawan 3 retreat allegedly encroached on 44 rai of the forest resulting in damages worth Bt3 million.

Police officers and rescue workers from Tha Chana rushed to the accident scene on the southbound lane of Asia Highway 41 in Tambon Prasong around 6am.

It is believed the bus left Bangkok on Tuesday evening, bound for Krabi province. Initial investigations found that heavy rain in the area had caused the road surface to become slippery.