Cop arrested in drugs den
SONGKHLA: A police corporal and a local leader’s son were arrested and drugs seized during a police raid on a house in Bang Klam district on Monday evening, police said yesterday.
The arrested policeman had earlier accused police from Provincial Police Region 9 of kidnapping him and friends for a 500,000-baht ransom.
Pol Cpl Sanyalak Jandam, 24, of Kapho police station in Pattani, and Piyapong Ruangchuay, 31, son of a kamnan in Bang Klam district, were apprehended in a bedroom of the house at Ban Nong Khuan in Bang Klam district around 6pm.
Police also seized 89 methamphetamine pills, 3.5 grammes of crystal methamphetamine, a pistol, digital scales, plastic straws used for delivering quantities of crystal meth, glass tubes and kratom cocktail ingredients found in the house.
The two men were taken to Bang Klam police station and charged with possession of illicit drugs with intent to sell, and violating the firearms law.
Pol Col Seksan Churangsarit, deputy chief of Songkhla police, said investigators from Bang Klam police station and provincial drug suppression officers earlier received information that the house was a centre for selling and using drugs.
Acting on the information, they obtained a warrant and raided the premises.
One of the men caught there told the arresting officers that he was a policeman, but failed to produce a police card when asked.
Further checks revealed that he was Pol Cpl Sanyalak Jandam of Kapho police station in Pattani, Pol Col Seksan said.
He will face both disciplinary and criminal action that will see him dismissed from the force, Pol Col Seksan said.
In May, Pol Cpl Sanyalak filed a complaint with Hat Yai police alleging that a team of police attached to Provincial Police 9 had kidnapped him and some friends for a 500,000baht ransom in Hat Yai.
This resulted in three police officers being transferred and investigated for the alleged abduction.
Police handling the case learned that Pol Cpl Sanyalak was involved in illicit drugs, but did not find firm evidence implicating him at the time, a police source said.