Five senior Nakhon Si Thammarat police officers were transferred to inactive posts Friday following a raid on an illegal casino that netted 60 arrests.
Pol Lt Gen Thesa Siriwatho, commissioner of Provincial Police Region 8, issued the order moving the five officers assigned to Thung Song police station to assist with work at the regional operations centre for 30 days.
The five officers are Pol Col Somchai Suetortrakul, chief of Thung Song police station, Pol Lt Col Rangsan Sukkua, deputy chief overseeing crime suppression chief, Pol Lt Col Phitsanu Jadmuang, deputy chief overseeing investigation, Pol Lt Col Palakorn Kitwijit, crime suppression chief, and Pol Lt Col Pathiwat Khunrang, investigation chief.
The transfers came after a team of Crime Suppression Division police raided a gambling den at a warehouse in tambon Chamai Nov 10. The area falls under the jurisdiction of Thung Song police.
Five dozen alleged gamblers were nabbed and 18 pieces of evidence, including chips, cash, decks of cards and other gambling paraphernalia, were seized.
An investigation showed the underground casino was operated by a well-known figure in Thung Song. It had been operating for a long time under the noses of local police. Pol Lt Gen Thesa also ordered an investigation into the five officers' alleged negligence of the operation.
The gambling raid and subsequent police suspensions weren't the first in this southern province. Earlier, the Provincial Police Region 8 chief transferred five senior cops attached to Tham Phannara district station after CSD police raided a gambling den there.