The chief of Kapo district police station in Pattani on Monday shot and killed himself in front of a subordinate officer while apparently waiting to meet a psychiatrist to discuss work-related stress problems.
The shooting occured in a car driven by Pol Cpl Tawan Saikiri, while Pol Col Adul Peenaba-ngo, 45, was travelling from Pattani to Yala province with his wife to meet a psychiatrist at a clinic on Siroros road in the municipality, police said.
Pol Cpl Tawan told police that he parked the car about 50 metres from the clinic and Pol Col Adul's wife got out to contact staff inside, leaving her husband waiting in the back seat. Pol Col Adul then took out his .357-calibre revolver and fired a single shot into his right temple.
The officer was found in critical condition and rushed to Yala General Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead. Pol Cpl Tawan said work-related stress was likely the cause of the suicide, because Pol Col Adul took his work seriously.
Pol Cpl Tawan said his superior had seemed normal when he spoke to him enroute from his home to the clinic.
A friend of Pol Col Adul described him as an “active police officer who takes work very seriously”.
He had served as investigation unit chief at the Southern Border Provinces Police Operation Centre (SBPAC) before being transferred to Kapo district as police chief. In that position, he tried to revive and renew investigations into several unsolved cases, which apparently caused stress, he said.
Militants are more active in Kapo than in other districts of Pattani and they had fired M79 grenades at Kapo police station several times. The latest attack occurred in February, and injured six police. This could have caused increased stress levels, his friend speculated.
He predicted that Pol Col Adul’s suicide would not be the last one if southern violence continues.
Police are investigating to dertermine whether work-related stress was the cause of his suicide.