The bureau’s chief Pol Lt-General Suttipong Wongpin said yesterday that all victims were female Ugandans who had suffered at the hands of fellow Ugandans and identified Belinda Namuli and Moses Musoki as suspected human traffickers.

“Our investigations allowed us to track down Namuli. She lived at a condominium in Bangkok’s Klong Tan area,” he said.

He said that after Namuli was arrested, immigration police found and arrested Musoki before rescuing the victims.

According to Suttipong, his bureau also arrested Nareerat Mudkhuntod and Rattanaporn Jamsai for allegedly luring Thai women into prostitution in Oman.

“Their victims were promised jobs as masseuses but once they arrived in Oman, they were forced into the flesh trade,” Suttipong said.

He said those who refused to carry out sex services were warned they would have to pay millions of baht to cover the expenses already incurred in getting them to Oman.

Suttipong said in a separate case an Indian national, Agarwal Prashant, had been arrested for taking a bag accidentally left behind by another air passenger in Suvarnabhumi Airport’s baggage x-ray zone.

Prashant was charged with theft after being caught red-handed carrying the bag that contained cash and credit cards belonging to the victim.

According to Suttipong, more than 35 million foreigners visited Thailand this year, with Chinese the biggest group of foreign visitors followed by Malaysians, South Koreans, Indians, Japanese and Russians.

Of these, 1,867 had overstayed, Suttipong said, and Chinese visitors once again the topped the list, followed by Indians, Vietnamese, Pakistanis and Nigerians.

During the past year, more than 28,000 foreigners were arrested for violating Thai laws and between October 1 and December 15, immigration police had refused entry to 1,760 foreigners

Deputy national police chief Pol General Srivara Rangsipramanakul, during his inspection of police checkpoints and other road safety measures in Sara Buri’s Khaeng Koi district on Thursday night, warned that if drunk drivers were found within a one-kilometre radius of a police checkpoint, the officers staffing that checkpoint would also be punished.

On the same night, deputy national police chief Pol General Weerachai Songmetta inspected police preparedness at a checkpoint on Vibhavadi-Rangsit Road in Bangkok. He also observed officers handling an unnamed 26-year-old suspected drunk driver who refused to undergo a breathalyser test – for which a new rule allows police to assume that those drivers refusing the test are drunk and to lay a drunk-driving charge against them.

A police search of the man’s car found a half-empty bottle of whiskey, leading police to file three charges against the man – resisting an on-duty officer’s order, drunk driving and failing to carry a car registration document.

Weerachai said that this year the punishment for drunk driving became hasher. Those found to be drunk driving will face a jail term of up to one year, a fine of up to Bt20,000 and a six-month driver’s licence suspension. Those who caused an accident while drunk will face a jail term of one to five years, a fine of up to Bt100,000 and a one-year suspension of their driver’s licence. If a crash involving a drunk driver led to a death, the drunk driver will face 3-10 years in jail, a Bt60,000-Bt200,000 fine and a life-long suspension of their driver’s licence, said Weerachai.

Thursday saw 41 deaths and 500 injuries in 477 road accidents – down in comparison to the same day last year when 524 road accidents claimed 42 lives and wounded 526 people, said Minister of Transport Arkhom Termpittayapaisith.

Chiang Mai reported the most accidents at 23 cases and the most casualties at 25 injuries while Si Sa Ket suffered the most fatalities with six deaths.

The top two main causes of accidents were drunk driving (42.77 per cent) and speeding (26 per cent), while most crashes (73.62 per cent) involved motorcycles, Arkhom said. About 44 per cent of accidents took place on highways, while about one-third occurred on village roads, he said, with around 30 per cent of the crashes happening between 4pm and 8pm. Slightly over half (52.49 per cent) of the crash victims were of working age.

The 2,008 checkpoints staffed by 64,275 officers arrested 89,277 law-breaking motorists, mostly for failing to show a driver’s licence (25,628) and motorcyclists failing to wear a helmet (25,329).

Arkhom said many people now set out for their hometowns or to visit attractions upcountry for the New Year holidays. With highways so busy, the centre had instructed each province to set up checkpoints to arrest law-breaking motorists, especially those driving drunk, speeding, dozing off behind wheel, using a phone while driving or failing to use safety gears.

He said officers were also told to stop buses and vans for safety checks, as well as punishing those driving pickup trucks carrying passengers in a dangerous manner. With transport hubs crowded with travellers, the authorities were asked to check on bus drivers for sobriety and vehicle condition while police and soldiers joined in directing traffic flows, the minister said.

Those experiencing or witnessing road crashes are urged to use the hotline 1784 or 1669 to get help.

The woman was stopped by officials late Wednesday night at Phuket’s international airport after landing on a flight from Doha.

An X-ray revealed more than 60 small packages in her stomach, filled with 1.2 kilogrammes (2.6 pounds) of cocaine, according to Sirinya Sitdhichai, secretary-general of Thailand’s Office of Narcotics Control Board.

The drugs were likely bound for wealthy clients in Bangkok, he added.

“Unlike methamphetamine, cocaine and ice (crystal meth) are for a very niche group of rich customers,” he told AFP.

He said drug traffickers based in West Africa routinely hire African or Asian woman as “mules” to smuggle narcotics into Thailand, a country whose porous borders and air links make it a popular transit stop for all kinds of contraband.

Smugglers often fly into smaller airports outside Bangkok and then travel by road to sell the drugs in the capital, he added.

Thailand, a country of roughly 68 million, has the world’s sixth largest prison population thanks to harsh drug laws that were enacted more than a decade ago but have failed to dismantle the narcotics trade or dent addiction rates.

More than 70 percent of the kingdom’s convicts are jailed on drug-related offences.

The proportion is even higher among the 39,000 female prisoners in Thailand, which jails more women per capita than any other nation.

Yet while couriers and other low-level smugglers are routinely arrested, authorities have struggled to take down kingpins and dismantle their trafficking networks.

The most popular drug in the kingdom is meth consumed in the form of caffeine-laced tablets known as “yaba”, which means “crazy medicine”.

The pill, and a more potent and pure version known as “ice”, are churned out in drug labs in the Golden Triangle Zone where northern Thailand meets Myanmar and Laos. //AFP

Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan on Thursday chaired a ceremony at the Royal Thai Police Sport Club at which newly purchased Sig Sauer P320 SP semi-automatic handguns were handed over to 22 police agencies to be distributed to every police stations for communal use by the police officers.

Prawit said the government acknowledged that crime was not only rising in Thailand, but also coming in diverse forms and with a more severe intensity. That makes it increasingly important to equip the police to fight criminals, he said.

The Royal Thai Police has long faced a shortage of guns, while many of those owned by police officers are old and out-moded, which increased the risk of officers being harmed or killed in action, the deputy PM acknowledged. This led the government to approve the police commissioner-general’s proposed plan to buy new guns.

All police stations in the country will be given 60 new guns to be shared among all officers.

“With these 55,150 new guns, I believe that the police performance in fighting crime and protecting people’s lives and belongings will be improved,” Prawit told the audience.

Speaking on behalf of police officers at the ceremony, Pol Senior Sgt-Major Tawee Nonkong said this was the first time that the government had presented guns to the police. The most common problem he had seen during his 10 years in the service was the lack of arms and ammunition, he said.

“We are very glad that we will have new guns to use in our mission to serve the people and protect society from crime,” Tawee said.

Last Saturday, the first lot of Sig Sauer P320 SP semi-automatic handguns were handed out to 2,500 police officers from around the country under a separate project, “welfare gun”, to provide more arms to the police.

Under the “welfare gun” project, the Royal Thai Police have ordered a total of 15,000 Sig Sauer P320 SP guns to sell to officers at Bt23,890, far below the market price, in order to ensure officers could own a quality weapon.

Guns from the welfare gun project cannot be resold and can only change hands through being passed along after the original owner has died.

Thai police officers have not previously been provided a gun free of charge. They were required to purchase a gun, which they often paid off through deductions from their salary.

Sacred Buddha images from the National Museum in Bangkok will also be moved to a temporary shrine during the holidays so that the public can pay respect.

Thailand has nine historical parks – in Ayutthaya, Kamphaeng Phet and Sukhothai, Sukhothai’s second such attraction Si Satchanalai, Buri Ram’s Phanom Rung, Nakhon Ratchasima’s Pimai, Kanchanaburi’s Muang Sing, Phetchabun’s Si Thep, and Udon Thani’s Phu Phra Bat.

Visitors to any of these parks will receive a souvenir postcard. The department has had 1,800 specially printed for the holiday season.

Preecha Chanakitkamjorn, director of the SBPAC Office for CSO coordination and peaceful solutions to conflicts, said the government and its special front-line cabinet delegation led by Deputy Defence Minister General Udomdej Sitabutr recognised the importance of CSO participation in solving the unrest. The government had implemented projects involving CSOs since August, he said.

The region has as many as 488 CSOs interested in joining development efforts and had proposed 148 projects, which would require Bt100 million.

The SBPAC had only received approval for Bt50 million from the government, so it set up a committee to screen the projects.

To fund the final 223 CSO selected projects, the SBPAC planned to ask for Bt15 million more than the original amount approved for a total of Bt65 million, Preecha added.

Militants are suspected of planting and detonating a roadside bomb targeting the five-member team of teacher protection patrol rangers, but nobody was killed or injured as the explosion was directed toward roadside bushes.

The bomb went off at 7.25am near a bridge in Ban Sawor Hilae (Moo 6) in Tambon Sawor, as the last ranger passed within 10 metres of the explosion, which was focused in another direction. Police officers inspecting the scene found a 30-centimetre-deep, 1.2-metre-wide crater with bomb fragments.

They said they suspected the explosives were placed in a 10-kilogram metal box and detonated by a communication radio.

Police believe the explosion was part of the region’s unrest ahead of the New Year festival to affect public morale.

Meanwhile, authorities on Wednesday night apprehended another suspect over the torching of a Betong-Bangkok bus in Yala’s Bannang Sata district.

Aslan Doloh, 34, wanted under an arrest warrant issued by the Yala Court on December 18, was arrested at his home in Pattani and sent for interrogation at a military unit in Pattani.

On December 17, armed militants commandeered the bus and ordered out 16 passengers before setting fire to the vehicle. Four suspects were earlier captured by security authorities.

Earlier this week, the improved security under the ruling junta was said by monitors to contribute to the fact that the death toll |this year from the insurgency |in Muslim-majority deep South had been the lowest since the conflict began 13 years ago, AFP reported.

235 deaths in 2017

The three southernmost provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat have been in the grip of a low-level but bloody insurgency since 2004 and nearly 7,000 people have died.

About 235 people died in 2017 as a result of clashes between the Muslim-Malay insurgents and Thai soldiers and police, according to figures collected by conflict analysts Deep South Watch.

That compares to 309 in 2016, continuing a downward trend since 2014 and a sharp drop from the peak of 892 deaths in 2007.

“We have seen the incidents going down for the past three years. And this year’s death toll is the lowest ever if no significant incidents happen in the coming days,” a Deep South Watch spokeswoman said.

In efforts to solve the unrest that had flared up since 2004, the junta that seized power in 2014 has continued peace talks but they appear to have made little headway. Discussions to set up so-called “safety zones” have been held with an umbrella group that claims to represent the rebels, but no agreement has been made public.

However, the Deep South Watch said the reduced death toll could be linked to continuing talks |and government development schemes.

Thailand-based independent analyst Don Pathan speculated the reduction was probably a combination of factors, including more government informants on the ground, a tighter security operation and more targeted strikes by insurgents.

“The bombs are bigger and more intense,” he said, adding that |militants were essentially being told to “make it count” and be more careful to avoid collateral damage.

ELEVEN SUSPECTS have been passed on to the public prosecutor to decide on indictments on charges including perjury related to a network alleged to have hired a scapegoat to take the fall for a fatal 2005 hit-and-run accident, which led to the conviction of former teacher Jomsap Saenmuangkhot.

The recommendation to charge 11 suspects was made public by Nakhon Phanom police chief Pol Maj-General Suwicharn Yankittikul at a morning press conference yesterday after police interviewed 68 witnesses in relation to the perjury case.

Nine of the 11 suspects were granted release on bail but Jomsap and her childhood friend and former teacher Suriya Nuancharoen were denied bail.

The deputy spokesman for the Attorney-General’s Office, Prayut Petchakhun, said a team of prosecutors would be set up to consider the case and whether to indict the suspects.

Suwicharn said Jomsap face two charges of racketeering and presenting false evidence during a court trial.

Suriya faces the same two charges plus four other charges of inducing other people to give false testimony, conspiring to present false information to prosecutors and police, conspiring to file a false police complaint and conspiring to fabricate false evidence to convince authorities of a person’s criminal offence.

Jomsap’s witness, Thassanee Hanpayak, faces five charges of racketeering, conspiring to present false information to prosecutors and police, conspiring to file a false police complaint, conspiring to fabricate false evidence to convince authorities of a person’s criminal offence and giving false key testimony during a court trial.

Another witness, Thongres Wongsricha, faces two charges of racketeering and giving false testimony during a court trial.

Jomsap’s ex-husband Niran Saenmuangkhot faces three charges of racketeering, conspiring to file a false police complaint and conspiring to present false evidence during a court trial.

Jomsap’s friend Saneh Supan faces two charges of racketeering and conspiring to file a false police complaint, while another friend, Rojana Jantharat, faces those two charges plus giving false testimony during a court trial.

Jomsap’s niece Wasana Phetchthong, who coordinated requests to related state agencies to help clear Jomsap’s name, faces two charges of racketeering and conspiring to present false evidence during a court trial.

Lawyer Thanat Suktalodpee faces four charges of criminal association, presenting false information to prosecutors and police, conspiring to file a false police complaint, and conspiring to fabricate false evidence to convince authorities of a person’s criminal offence.

Self-confessed scapegoat Sap Wapi and his wife Chan Wapi were indicted on December 22 on five charges of criminal association, having police record false information in state documents that may result in damages to others, conspiring to present false information to prosecutors and police, conspiring to file a false police complaint and giving false testimony during an official court trial.

Jomsap was sentenced to three years and two months in prison over the death of cyclist Lua Phorbumrung in the March 11, 2005 accident in Nakhon Phanom’s Renu Nakhon district.

She was granted a royal pardon in April 2015 after serving 18 months but sought a retrial to clear her name. The Supreme Court on November 17 rejected her petition, citing suspicions of “hired scapegoats” and perjury in her attempt to clear her name.

Cabinet approval will be sought next week for the proposal to extend the deadline from March 31 to June 30, he said.

The enforcement of the new migrant worker management law might also be postponed from January 1 next year until the completion of the national verification process, he said.

“The Cabinet has already been informally told about the enforcement of the law, hence we have instructed the relevant agencies and officials not to arrest any undocumented migrants,” he said.

He denied that the national verification process was too slow, pointing to the huge number of migrant workers in the country.

The ministry manages to process 900-1,200 applications for national verification per day, Labour Ministry director-general of the employment department, Anurak Tossarat, said.

Nearly 2 million migrants workers from neighbouring Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia need to be registered before being allowed to work in Thailand. There are 1.2 million migrant workers from Myanmar, 616, 282 from Cambodia, and 159,313 from Laos. The ministry has already completed verification of nationalities and documentation of 1,041,043 people, he said.

National verification for migrant workers stirred a controversy in November when Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha blamed the former director of the employment department for the slow progress and demoted him to an inactive post, prompting the surprise resignation of General Sirichai Distakul as labour minister.

Prayut exercised his absolute powers under Article 44 to restructure migrant worker management, setting up a new committee to take care of the task.

The new committee is chaired by the permanent secretary of the Interior Ministry, Chatchai Promlert. Its members include officials from not only the Labour Ministry but also the Foreign and Interior ministries, as well as police.

National verification is compulsory for migrant worker documentation after the current military-backed government issued a new law on migrant worker management, stipulating tough punishment for use of illegal migrant workers.

According to the new foreign labour law, employers of illegal migrants could face a hefty fine of Bt400,000-Bt800,000 per migrant worker if found to have violated the law.

The government has decided to delay enforcement after panic migrants fled back home due to fear of tough punishment.