Three cops in Thailand‘s northeast Kalasin province have been arrested on expenses of soliciting a bribe to free a drug suspect. The crooked cops have been officers at Mueang Kalasin Police Station.
Police launched a sting operation to bust the crooked cops after ‘A,’ the sister of the drug suspect, reported that the crooked cops had contacted her and demanded 500,000 baht in change for her brother’s freedom.
A negotiated the bribe down to 400,000 baht, and the crooked cops told her to meet them on the station on Thursday at 9am. The provincial police’s head of the investigation, Pol. Col. Kasem Mutaphon advised A to go ahead and provides the crooked cops the cash as agreed and said the police would then arrest them.
When A arrived at Mueang Kalasin Police Station with the bribe cash, a person took her to an investigation room. Ten minutes later, she got here out and known as Pol. Col. Kasem, who shortly went in along with his group and found three officers in possession of 364,000 baht. The officers claimed that they’d already released the drug suspect. The three suspects were a 27 year old Pol. Snr. Sgt. Maj, a 27 12 months previous Pol. Sgt, and a 30 year old Pol. Sgt.
Pol. Col. Kasem requested who else was concerned, and the suspects said eight extra, together with a Pol. Capt., a Pol.Lt., two Pol.Snr. Sgt.Maj., three Pol. Sgt.Maj. and a Pol. Sgt, Naewna reported. An investigation towards these eight officers is ongoing.
Provincial Police Commander Pol. Maj. Gen. Suwan Chienawinthawat confirmed that the three officers who met with A had been arrested.
Corruption is a major drawback in Thailand. The country was a hundred and first on the Corruption Perception Index in 2022. The previous yr, the kingdom was a hundred and tenth according to Transparency International (TI), a German-based nonprofit that measures and fights corruption worldwide.
The index works on a scale of one hundred, with a hundred utterly free of corruption and nil being probably the most corrupt potential. Thailand sat at 35 points on that index in 2020 however has now inched as a lot as 36 points. By contrast, out of all 189 nations analysed, Denmark earned the bottom corruption rating of ninety factors.
Nothing to it within the police drive is often linked to the illicit drug commerce, with officers accepting bribes from drug sellers to show a blind eye to their actions or to release suspects..