Police were not involved in extorting money from the relatives of an alleged drug dealer who died in police custody in Songkhla province early last month, the Crime Suppression Division (CSD) said yesterday.
Ten police were suspected of demanding 1 million baht from the man's relatives and were transferred pending a probe. The CSD probe team said yesterday their inquiry had cleared the 10 men. Police in fact denied demanding a bribe and suspect it was someone impersonating police, the probe team said.
Porntip: Asked to conduct autopsy
The CSD probe concluded Pol Maj Gen Amphon Buarapporn, the commander of Songkhla provincial police, and nine other officers from the Narcotics Suppression Division, did not demand bribes from the relatives of drug suspect Theeraphat Sereekrietdilok. A source earlier alleged the narcotics suppression team demanded the money for releasing the suspect. Relatives paid the man 300,000 baht, only to find out Theeraphat, 33, had already died.
Police say they will continue their inquiry into the case to determine how Theeraphat died. While police claim he committed suicide, one source from inside the force admitted officers might have killed him and made it look like suicide.
Somchai Sereekrietdilok, Theeraphat's father, said police appear to have conducted the probe fairly, as the officers were transferred pending the results.
If they are guilty of murder, they must be brought to justice, he said. Mr Somchai has asked the Central Institute of Forensic Science director-general Khunying Porntip Rojanasunan to conduct an autopsy on his son's body. Theeraphat, 33, was arrested on March 7 for drug crimes. He was found dead two days later while remanded in police custody in Hat Yai's district.
An autopsy report from Songkhlanagarind Hospital suggested the victim had suffocated. However, he also suffered fractured bones and traumatic lung injuries.
Meanwhile, national police chief Somyot Pumpunmuang said the transfers were conducted to prove the transparency of police. Pol Maj Gen Amphon was not involved in Mr Theeraphat's death, he said. Junior officers from the provincial drugs unit arrested the suspect and took him to the safehouse where he was found dead.