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Police link general to drugs boss
- Subject: Police link general to drugs boss
- From: suriya@xxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 29 Oct 1998 18:53:00
October 29, 1998
NARCOTICS
Police link general
to drugs boss
Evidence found in corporal's quarters
Wassayos Ngarmkham, Wassana Nanuam and Pricha Sisatarn
Police yesterday found crucial evidence linking a Supreme Command
general to a drug ring run by Surachai "Bang Ron" Ngernthongfoo
after they searched the quarters of a lance corporal attached to the
army's 1st regiment.
Police found purchase orders for thousands of amphetamine pills at
L/Cpl Vitoon Klinkachorn's quarters in the regiment's 4th battalion, as
well as several bank accounts of the non-commissioned officer
showing transfers of large amounts of cash in and out of the accounts.
Military and police sources said the officer had close ties with the
general who was once attached to the 1st regiment's 4th battalion.
L/Cpl Vitoon was not present during the search.
The search was carried out with the permission of Gen Surayud
Chulanont, the army chief, and with full cooperation of Col Thiradet
Mokasamit, the regimental commander.
A police source said: "We now have strong evidence to link him
[Vitoon] to Bang Ron's drug ring."
The general, a specialist at the Supreme Command and staff officer at
the Defence Ministry's Office of Policy and Planning, had been absent
from work in the past several days since being linked to Bang Ron's
drug ring.
Gen Mongkol Ampornpisit, the supreme commander, has already
ordered a military intelligence unit to run a background check on the
general, a former deputy chief of the Armed Forces Security Centre
who once supervised an intelligence unit monitoring border security in
Kanchanaburi.
Bang Ron is believed to have taken refuge with Red Wa rebels
operating along Kanchanaburi's border area.
A security source yesterday said Bang Ron had used his connections
with Burmese minority groups in the area gained with the suspected
general's help to obtain amphetamines for sale in Thailand.
Police yesterday declined to reveal the identify of the suspected
general. However, it was reported that he was a Class 14 graduate of
the Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy, and that he was widely
known to be an influential figure with strong connections with
"mafia-type people".
Another senior army officer had also been suspected earlier. But the
police said yesterday that the officer, a major-general who is a unit
commander in the Fourth Army Region, had already been cleared.
Meanwhile it was reported yesterday that a combined task force of
Border Patrol Police troops, army soldiers and para-military rangers
was about to begin a hunt for Bang Ron who was believed to be
hiding somewhere in a border area of Sangklaburi district of
Kanchanaburi.
"We will send a go-between to talk him into surrendering first before
taking any tougher measures," said a security official yesterday.
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© Copyright The Post Publishing Public Co., Ltd. 1998
Last Modified: Thu, Oct 29, 1998
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