Thanpuying Apiradee Yingcharoen, a special royal aide-de-camp of the Royal Aide-De-Camp Department, will ask Gen Udomdej Sitabutr to investigate the commander of the 2nd Army for alleged negligence in suppressing the destruction of natural resources.
Department secretary Supatra Yingcharoen said on behalf of Thanpuying Apiradee that she would send a letter to the army chief to investigate Lt Gen Thawat Sukplang for allowing not only the destruction of rosewood trees, but drug dealing in the Northeast.
Stumps of felled “payoong” rosewood trees at the Phu Jong-Na Yoi National Park in Ubon Ratchathani. Villagers in Na Chaluai, Buntharik and Nam Yuen districts, where the park is located, in 2012 accused local state officials of colluding with a major illegal logging gang in destroying the forest. (Bangkok Post photo)
She claimed illegal log poachers connected to a regional drug ring continued to cut down protected rosewood, or payoong, trees.
"Local people are hired to transport payoong wood in exchange for drugs," Ms Supatra said.
Ms Supatra spoke after a progress-check meeting with the head of the Department of Special Investigation special-cases administration centre. The Royal Aide-De-Camp Department had asked Pol Maj Voranan Srilam to probe government officials and people believed to be involved in poaching and smuggling of payoong trees and dealing drugs.
She said the department had submitted a letter to several agencies including the National Anti-Corruption Commission, the Anti-Money Laundering Office and the Office of the Narcotics Control Bureau over this matter.
The DSI, in particular, had since 2013 agreed to accept cases on payoong wood for special investigation. However, Ms Supatra claimed, no progress has been made because Tarit Pengdith, the then DSI director-general, ordered the investigation delayed, allowing the poaching and smuggling to continue in defiance of the government's vow to take tough action against those involved in the destruction of natural resources.
Pol Lt Col Supat Thamthanarak, deputy chief of the DSI's Office of Technology and Data Centre, denied Mr Tarit had delayed the investigation. The DSI initially accepted four cases related to payoong wood for investigation and later took two other cases to proceed with, he said.
The DSI did not emphasise its operations on transporters, but aimed to destroy the poaching and smuggling networks both inside and outside the country. It had checked records of telephone use and financial transactions of people suspected of involvement in the payoong wood trade and drug dealings, he added.
However, the investigation was time-consuming and, therefore, no details could be revealed yet, Pol Lt Col Supat said.