An initial investigation has found no death threat was made against Pol Maj Gen Paween as he claimed, national police chief Chakthip Chaijinda said Wednesday.
Pol Gen Chakthip said a committee set up to probe the claim initially found the threat claim was false. However, he said his deputy Srivara Ransibrahmanakul will oversee the ongoing investigation.
Pol Gen Chakthip said if Pol Maj Gen Paween received a death threat he should have brought the matter to his attention rather than talk to the media about it.
Pol Maj Gen Paween flew to Melbourne last week where he told local media outlets he was fleeing a death threat made by influential figures in the military and police involved in the human trade case he previously handled.
Last month, Pol Maj Gen Paween quit as deputy chief of Provincial Police Region 8, which oversees the upper southern provinces.
He said the police force's decision to transfer him to the region, where networks of human traffickers were uncovered and arrested in his probe, showed some senior government figures wanted him dead. He said people involved in trafficking would seek retribution for the progress he made in the probe.
Meanwhile, Pol Maj Gen Charuwat Waisaya has been moved back to the Metropolitan Police Bureau (MPB) only one day after being abruptly transferred to work at the Royal Thai Police operations centre.
Pol Gen Chakthip issued an order on Monday moving Pol Maj Gen Charuwat, deputy chief of the MPB, to the centre.
But the police chief on Wednesday signed another order, shifting Pol Maj Gen Charuwat back to the MPB.
The about-turn triggered rumours Pol Maj Gen Charuwat was closely associated with a senior figure in the government. However, the police chief denied this.
Pol Gen Chakthip explained that he signed the transfer because Pol Maj Gen Charuwat had completed his assignment to compile a data base on human-trafficking.
The police chief said he first thought it would take as long as two weeks to complete the database. But it was subsequently discovered the data brought by Pol Maj Gen Charuwat from a meeting abroad was similar to that prepared by Pol Gen Srivara.
Acting MPB chief Sanit Mahathavorn said he wanted Pol Maj Gen Charuwat back to oversee several activities planned in Bangkok during the Christmas and New Year celebrations.
It was earlier reported Pol Maj Gen Charuwat was transferred because he had complained to a close aide of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha about his unreasonably heavy workload.
