Doubts are mounting over the motive behind Thursday’s attack which killed a Muslim deputy chief of Krong Pinang district police station and his two subordinates, as locals — including Islamic clergy — expressed their disbelief in the police theory that he was killed by insurgents.
Religious leaders, neighbours, relatives, and friends who attended his funeral said the same thing — it was unlikely Pol Lt Col Adinant Ismaael was a target of southern insurgent groups.
The ambush sprayed the pickup with automatic rifle fire (inset), and it crashed into a ditch as the three policemen lay dying inside.(Bangkok Post photo)
Pol Lt Col Adinant, along with Pol Sub Lt Danupol Asae and Pol Lt Col Hama Sarado, was gunned down while returning to work from evening Ramadan prayers at a mosque in Krong Pinang district late on Thursday.
Before the attack, the police official was heard telling his co-workers: “The villagers will never want to see me dead but someone else probably does.”
His statement reflected his awareness of a looming threat on his life. It has now raised questions as to who would want to have him killed and why?
Pol Lt Col Adinant was nominated two years ago to become the chief of a police station in the deep South. But his name was withdrawn from the proposed promotion without a clear reason given.
In 2012, Pol Lt Col Adinant was recognised as an outstanding police official for his impressive work to tackle narcotics problems.
And just last year, he received an award for maintaining high ethical standards in the police profession.
He started out as an administration police officer and he spent years in southern high-risk zones.
He moved to Krong Pinang three years ago where he focused on fighting the drug menace in this “red zone” of the southern insurgency.
His approach to combating the problem involved applying Islamic principles. The principle that Pol Lt Col Adinant applied is known as Dawah. It involved inviting the youth from the villages to attend activities and religious practices to try to help them change their attitudes and to help cure their addiction to drugs.
The approach was a success, winning the hearts of locals and changing the attitudes of not only the villagers, especially young people, but also police officials dealing with the drug problem. Evidence of the villagers’ trust in Pol Lt Col Adinant was illustrated by the fact that there were was no reason for him to carry any weapons when he went into villages to work.
But to some of his superiors, the bond between Pol Lt Col Adinant and the villagers was worrying, as some were suspected of having links to the southern insurgents.
Pol Lt Col Adinant was reportedly seen by some of his superiors as potentially having secret connections with insurgent movements.
As accusations against him mounted, Pol Lt Col Adinant was transferred to an inactive post in the southern police operation centre in Yala in February last year, following a deadly attack on a female fruit vendor in the district.
Pol Col Metha Sanghasena, the chief of the Krong Pinang district police station, another Muslim, was also transferred.
After protests by the villagers, Pol Lt Col Adinant was ordered to return to work at Krong Pinang police station, two months after he was transferred to an inactive post.
The villagers have called for clarity in the probe into his murder. Some villagers blame the authorities.