A total of 11 city police officers are to be investigated after a photo of several men in riot police uniform playing a dice gambling game inside a government building leaked online on Wednesday, police said.
A photo of a group of policemen gambling inside a government building has leaked online.
The list of suspects includes eight officers of the rank of senior sergeant major, a sergeant major, a sub-lieutenant and a captain, all of whom belong to Metropolitan Police 5th Division.
Chief of the 5th division, Pol Maj Gen Suebsak Phansura, said a panel has been set up to look into the incident. Until the investigative process is completed the policemen are to continue performing their duty, he said.
The officers were assigned to the riot police troop deployed to monitor anti-government protestors at Suan Mmitsakawan intersection in Dusit district on Wednesday.
National police chief, Pol Gen Adul Saengsingkaew, said the police will immediately take disciplinary action against the officers if they are proven to have gambled.
Pol Lt Gen Kamronwit Thoopkrajang, commander of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, said the suspects will not be protected if they are found to be guilty.
He said personally he did not want an investigation. The suspects should be instantly ejected for their lack of discipline and for setting a bad example.
A picture of Kwanchai Sarakam, one of the leaders of the red-shirt United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), in an Udon Thani provincial police uniform also surfaced on Wednesday.
Deputy chief of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, Pol Maj Gen Prinya Chansuriya, said he has ordered investigators to analyse the image. If the police outfit is real then the police will press charges against Mr Kwanchai.
Mr Kwanchai, chairman of a red-shirt group in Udon Thani province, admitted that he was wearing a police uniform near the parliament building.
He said he did so to motivate Udon Thani policemen who had been sent to the capital to help city police in keeping the anti-government groups in order.
He insisted that he had done nothing wrong because the uniform he wore was devoid of an official badge that would state the rank of an officer on any genuine police uniform.
Kwanchai Sarakam wears a police uniform.