UTTARADIT -- The manager of a construction company has accused local police in Phichai district of forcing a worker at gunpoint to drive a truck working at a dredging site to a weighbridge on a public road and then charging him with operating an overweight vehicle.
Natthawut Seekar, manager of Ichiro Karn Yotha Co in this northern province, on Tuesday linked the incident to his firm's refusal to pay bribes to officers attached to Phichai police station.
He said his firm was hired to dredge a canal in tambon Khorum of Phichai district and had been doing the work, using 10 trucks and some backhoes, for more than a month. The work went smoothly and had not caused trouble for anyone or any agency.
However, a problem emerged on Monday when a group of Phichai police arrived at the dredging site, he said.
One of the officers allegedly pulled out a pistol and forced an employee driving a truck on the site to drive the vehicle on a public road to a weighbridge. The truck was then found to be carrying a load exceeding the road weight limit. The driver was taken to Phichai police station and charged, said Mr Natthawut.
“Wherever we have deployed our heavy machinery for work, we have never caused any trouble for anyone. The actions of these policemen in using a pistol to force my employee to drive a truck away from the dredging site to the weighbridge is entirely inappropriate.
"No trucks here carry heavy loads when travelling along a road. The vehicles are used only at the construction site,’’ Mr Nattawut said.
He believed the police action might have been linked to his firm's refusal to pay bribes to the officers.
He planned to bring the case to the attention of Uttaradit governor Surasak Charoensirichot.
Mr Nattawut said would take the arrested driver with him and petition the governor so action could be taken against these rogue police officers.