Ten Phuket police shipped off to inactive posts in BKK

The police inspector-general has issued two orders to transfer 10 Phuket police officers to inactive posts in Bangkok, causing dissatisfaction and affecting the morale of other officers.

Four of the transferred officers were moved from the Patong police station amid allegations that their recent crackdown on a restaurant in the popular tourist town had affected the business of certain police officers in Bangkok.

In the latest order, issued on Friday, Pol General Suchart Thirasawat, acting police inspector-general, transferred four officers to the Royal Thai Police Operations Command Centre in Bangkok. The four officers are Pol Colonel Thassanai Orarikdej, commander of Patong police station; Pol Captain Srisuda Mueangkaew, deputy inspector of Anti-Trafficking in Persons Sub-division 5; Pol Snr-Sgt-Major Jakthipon Nakpongphat, a unit head of the sub-division 5; and Pol Senior Sgt-Major Worachat Thappun, traffic unit chief of Patong.

Their transfers took effect yesterday (Saturday). On November 13, Suchart issued an order to transfer six officers to the operations command centre.

Transferred were Pol Lt-Colonel Surasak Jaidee and Pol Lt-Colonel Thienchai Chomphu, both inspectors at the Phuket immigration office; Pol Captain Nimitr Sukprasert, deputy inspector of the investigation sub-division 1 of the Provincial Police Bureau 8; Pol Captain Adul Boonyarat, deputy inspector of Patong police station; and Pol Snr-Sgt-Major Pornprasit Waenthong, chief of an investigation unit in Patong.

A police source in Phuket speculates that the transfers were made because officers from the Patong police station had recently made arrests at a seafood restaurant close to a senior police officer in Bangkok. The source said the transfers had severely affected the morale of Phuket police as they doubted whether the inspector-general had the authority to transfer officers from another province to Bangkok.

STORY: The Nation