ASIA - Police chief proposes prison cell on island for drug dealers

poledriver

poledriver

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National Police chief Pol General Priewpan Damapong yesterday proposed the construction of a prison on an island, especially for drug dealers as it would be easier to control and prevent them from continuing their drug dealing from behind bars.

Priewpan said he was discussing his idea with senior officials. The facility should be equipped with a phone signal blocking system. He revealed the idea during a press conference yesterday about three suspects in Pattani's Sai Buri district who were arrested in Samut Sakhon's Muang district. About 373,800 yaba tablets, five kilograms of crystal meth and 120 kratom leaves were seized from them.

Meanwhile, police will seek arrest warrants for two or three more suspects after Major Piyanat Ketchamrat, an official at the Engineering Battalion of the Region 3 Army who has been accused of being involved in drug crimes, reportedly confessed and implicated a few others.

Narcotics Suppression Bureau deputy chief Pol Maj-General Charnwet Sesawet said Major Piyanat had confessed to transporting the drugs and also gave other useful information. Police would secure arrest warrants for two or three others whom he had implicated for transporting drugs in the Northern and Central regions. Charnwet declined to give details.

He said Sgt-Major 1st class Venus Sijai, another accused official from the Engineering Battalion of the Region 3 Army, was still hiding in Thailand. Police would soon bring to court Major Piyanat, who reportedly had faced asset seizure in 2009 due to his involvement in drug crimes, and seek his detention on the charge of possessing drugs.

Pol Lt-General Wanthip Wongwai, the Region 3 Army commander, said that an initial probe by his office found that Major Piyanat had been arrested in 2009 in a drug case by the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) and Bt3 million worth of his assets were seized. However, the ONCB failed to report the matter to the Engineering Battalion of the Region 3 Army. As a result, Major Piyanat was able to continue working there. He said the Army would wait for the legal procedure to complete its course before taking action against Major Piyanat.

Police yesterday also brought Piyanat's accuser, Nipon Kanchat, to the Ratchadaphisek Criminal Court and sought a 12-day detention until February 7, while objecting to his bail on the ground that he was a flight risk. Nipon was arrested for allegedly storing billions of baht worth of narcotics at a Pathum Thani house he rented from a Thai actress.


Meanwhile, Nakhon Sawan's Paknam Pho police officers engaged in a gunfight with a drug gang yesterday morning. One suspect was shot dead, two suspects were captured and two others fled the scene. The gang members, on two motorcycles, who were about to deliver 500 yaba tablets and 16 grams of ice to a customer, ran into a police truck, fled to a dead-end soi and fired at the police, according to provincial police chief Pol Maj-General Chantawit Ramasut.

In Phattalung's Ta Mot district, three drug suspects were arrested in a sting operation yesterday. Police seized 539 yaba tablets, 10 grams of ice, 200 bottles of cough syrup and kratom leaves.

In Khon Kaen's Muang district, police arrested a 30-year-old man while waiting to deliver 2,400 yaba tablets to a customer at 2.30am yesterday. He confessed to buying the drug from a Laotian.

In Bangkok, a team of 120 police officers yesterday raided five communities in Tao Poon and Bang Sue areas at 5.30am and arrested 14 drug suspects. They seized some yaba, crystal meth and drug-taking tools. The raids targeted the drug ring of Somchai "Ae Leuk" Iampaijit, a drug suspect who was shot dead earlier this week in a gunfight with police in Nonthaburi.​

Paragraphs removed, full article - here
 
Drug offenders to be kept in restricted jail zones

Drug offenders to be kept in restricted jail zones

While policy-makers consider whether to set up a special facility - including a jail on an island - to prevent convicted drug dealers organising deals from behind bars, the Corrections Department chief said tomorrow's meeting of prison directors would seek solutions to the problem. And he plans to tell them to keep drug suspects in a separate zone from others.

Corrections Department chief Suchat Wong-anantachai said yesterday the idea of special prison, if approved, would take a while to materialise, but the department could separate drug convicts from others now.

For example, Bang Kwang Prison's zone 2 could be reserved for drug convicts serving life sentences. This would stop inmates from recruiting network members and the new zone would have tough rules including stricter visits under security cameras, he said.

Deputy Premier Chalerm Yoobamrung, filling in for the PM's TV programme yesterday, said the special prison zones would be reserved for drug convicts and manned by officials who were not corrupt. One could possibly be implemented first at Nakhon Ratchasima's Si Khiu Prison.

Chalerm said the government aimed to cut drug trafficking in one year. They would focus on reducing sources and demand for drugs, by seriously cracking down on dealers, intercepting narcotic ingredients, punishing any officials involved, and asking night entertainment venues not to allow drug activities.

He urged police to erect a barbed-wire fences along northern borders including Chiang Rai's Mae Sai district, as 87 per cent of illicit drugs were smuggled through eight border provinces particularly Chiang Rai, Mae Hong Son and Chiang Mai.

Chalerm also warned dealers to quit, saying they could be victims of "silent killings" by fellow dealers, but not by police.

He later spoke to anti-drug police at Kalasin and told the governor to reinstate the province's effective crackdown measures from 2002, as he wanted Kalasin to be the anti-drugs model.

Telling officials to take legal action against dealers without fear of "influential" figures, he said whatever happened he would be responsible. The government had no policy to kill any suspect, he said, but the problem of killings came from drug-dealing networks.

The Narcotics Control Board chief Adul Saengsingkaew said they would implement an anti-drug campaign in 60,000 villages this year, while the Public Health Ministry rehabilitate 400,000 addicts and the Education Ministry would undertake anti-drugs activities in schools.

Meanwhile, Bang Kwang Prison chief Wisanu Prajongkit said the search yesterday of drug inmate Peerayuth Phatsakol -accused by another suspect, Nipon Kanchat, of doing deals from prison - found nothing illegal. Guards would prevent him from contacting Nipon and other suspects in the case.

Wisanu said he would ask permission for Corrections officials to carry a gun, after a Bang Kwang official's home was shot at in Nonthaburi on Tuesday night.

In a related matter, police brought Major Piyanat Jatejamras, an officer at Army Region 3's Engineering Battalion, accused of involvement in drug trafficking, to the Criminal Court to get approval for him to be detained for 12 days. They told the court Piyanat should not get bail as he may flee. The major was accused of being a drug courier by Nipon, who was arrested last week along with 3.8 million ya ba tablets and 71 kg of crystal meth at a house in Pathum Thani.

Department of Special Investigation (DSI) and Drug Suppression Police yesterday arrested 11 Chinese Haw people in Bangkok accused of being in a drug gang along with 24 kg of crystal meth (or 'ice') and 400,000 ya ba tablets worth about Bt200 million. DSI chief Tharit Pengdit told a press conference that six suspects were arrested with 24 kg of 'ice' in a sting operation at Tesco Lotus Mall on Ram Intra Road. That led to the search of a restaurant in Soi Ramkhamhaeng 24/3, where the 400,000 ya ba tablets were found, and five other suspects arrested.​

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Drug-offenders-to-be-kept-in-restricted-jail-zones-30174700.html
 
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