A Thong Lor police officer has been transferred to an inactive post and faces a disciplinary probe after he was accused of abducting and raping a Lao teenager.
An 18-year-old woman lodged a complaint against Pol Sub Lt Thatree Suebsamarn, 53, a police investigator at Thong Lor station, on Sunday.
The young woman said she and her boyfriend caught a taxi, driven by Pol Sub Lt Thatree, on Saturday afternoon at Phutthamonthon, on the outskirts of Bangkok, for a trip to Rayong province.
The officer moonlights as a taxi driver.
The driver left the expressway in Samut Prakan province, forced her boyfriend out of the taxi and then handcuffed her, she said.
He then took her to an apartment in Muang district of Samut Prakan where he held her prisoner overnight, raping her several times while she was still handcuffed, the woman said.
The victim said the policeman released her about 10am the next day. She was allowed to take a shower and driven to a spot near a noodle shop where she works in Nakhon Pathom.
Before letting her out of the vehicle, the driver identified himself as Pol Sub Lt Thatree from Thong Lor station, gave her his contact number and warned her that if she made a complaint to the police he would kill her, the victim said.
Police confirmed the vehicle registration number which the victim gave them is owned by Pol Sub Lt Thatree.
The victim also identified him from his registered citizen ID image. A warrant has been obtained for his arrest.
Pol Lt Col Somphop Suphaporn, the case officer at Samut Prakan station, went to Thong Lor police station on Wednesday afternoon to arrest the accused rapist but he had fled.
Pol Sub Lt Thatree later contacted Samut Prakan police, advising them he would turn himself in yesterday afternoon, but he did not show up.
He faces charges of rape and assaulting a defenceless person and causing them physical or mental harm.
Metropolitan police chief Khamronwit Thoopkrachang yesterday said he had transferred Pol Sub Lt Thatree to an inactive post pending an investigation into the case.