Several police agencies were pleased with the arrest on Jan 20 of the alleged drug lord Xaysana Keopimpha. In particular, there were four discrete agencies involved in the case. The main office of the Royal Thai Police, the Narcotics Suppression Bureau (NSB), the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) and the independent Anti-Money Laundering Office (Amlo) have all clung tenaciously to the case. Mr Xaysana is said to be the biggest kingpin arrested in Thailand in more than 40 years. Unfortunately, authorities are treating the case more like a local soap opera instead of the three-nation cross-border crime it appears to be.
In the past week, all four law-enforcement agencies have called in on the media to show what they claim are results from their investigation. They are charged, in general, with trying to unravel the details of an apparently large and important drug gang; there have even been arrests in Laos. It is disappointing, then, that authorities are generating headlines on the back of unsubstantiated claims that celebrities and so-called hi-so Thais are involved in Mr Xaysana's gang.
Police seem to have become interested in the past few days in the headlines they have been helping create by reeling of celebrity names. This is hardly the way a serious investigation of such a harmful criminal gang should proceed. Police have thrown names to the media of people they are questioning in relation to Mr Xaysana. No charges were laid, no warrants were sought. Yet the names of stars and a race-car driver have been presented to the media almost as if the people being questioned have already been indicted.
Mr Xaysana is accused of being the biggest drug dealer in Thai custody since 1973. That was when authorities arrested the "godfather of heroin" Lo Hsing Han, eventually turning him over to authorities in Myanmar. Numerous drug lords have appeared since then, but none has fallen into the hands of law enforcement. The case against Mr Xaysana, and parallel cases against at least two important men recently arrested in Laos, represent the biggest opportunity to shut down a major drug trafficking ring, and bring its leader to justice, while police are seen to be treating it as a celebrity roast.
The case against Mr Xaysana and his confederates began to seriously unravel last March. Police arrested 21 Malaysian men on a train from Bangkok to Butterworth, and seized 226kg of methamphetamine tablets ya ba and 8kg of heroin. A week later, two Malaysians were busted at the Songkhla border with 282kg of meth. Two months ago, seven Thais were arrested and 500kg seized in Chumphon province. Arrested suspects spoke of a "big boss" called Mr X, after which Mr Xaysana was detained on his stopover while flying from Phuket to Vientiane.
In short, this is one of the biggest drug cases in two generations. Police, the anti-narcotics forces and Amlo have to get every detail right, and try to net every guilty person involved. They should not, however, be investigating or trying the case in sensational fashion in the media. Deputy national police chief Pol Gen Chalermkiat Sriworakhan said no one has immunity in the case, and "anyone crooked cannot avoid prosecution". That's good to hear, but police should not be parading show-business suspects just to bring publicity to the case.
Forcing celebrities through gauntlets of media on their way to questioning about vague rumours is unprofessional, shameful grandstanding. Police must get back to the job at hand of eliminating a large drug network.