Six Bangkok policemen, including three commissioned officers, have been suspended from duty for alleged involvement in the drug trade.
The officers, attached to Bowon Mongkol Police Station in Bang Phlat district, are Pol Capt Supat Prajonghat, Pol Capt Akenititorn Polboon, Pol Lt Weerapol Kamdee -- all holding deputy inspector positions at the station -- as well as Pol Snr Sgt Maj Parinya Jithan, Pol Sgt Maj Phunat Netsawang and Pol L/C Ruangyot Samboonrua.
Four of them have been arrested and a search is under way for the remaining officers, police said.
The move came after Metropolitan Police Division 7 officers arrested two drug suspects who were contacted by an officer posing as a buyer to deliver drugs at a housing estate in Charansanitwong Soi 35. Police managed to seize 1,400 methamphetamine pills, or ya ba, and 100 grammes of crystal methamphetamine, or ya ice, from them.
According to police, the pair said the drugs belonged to Pol Capt Supat. With this information, Pol Col Wiradol Tubtim, superintendent of the Bowon Mongkol police, searched Pol Capt Supat's office at the station.
The search uncovered 13,000 ya ba tablets, 100 grammes of ice and some ketamine hidden in a backpack inside the room, police said. The discovery led police to widen the probe and seek warrants for the arrest of the six officers believed to be in the same gang.
Metropolitan Police Bureau (MPB) chief Sanit Mahathavorn said he ordered the suspension of the six.
Based on the drug law, officers found to be involved in drug offences would receive three times harsher punishments than civilians, he said.
Pol Lt Gen Sanit said he was informed the six committed the drug offences for the first time. The drugs they held were narcotics confiscated during a recent arrest, he said. The MPB chief was referring to a drug raid on a condominium room in Charansanitwong Soi 95/1 carried out by the six officers on Feb 10. The six did not charge anyone in the case and kept the drugs with the intent to sell them later, police said.
Pol Lt Gen Sanit also transferred Pol Lt Col Suphab Petcharat, an inspector at Bowon Mongkol Police Station, and Pol Col Wiradol to the MPB's operation centre for 30 days. The two were superiors of the six, although it is not clear if they are connected to the gang.
National police chief Chakthip Chaijinda said he had given an instruction that any officers complicit in the drug offences must be dismissed.
Superiors of the officers linked to the offence must also be held accountable, he said.