Wild man's undoing, fake cops anger, Mum's little angel

Past catches up with thug

A string of offences has finally caught up with a wild man soldier of Chumphon, who led a gang of youngsters to attack the home of a teen rival after earlier defaming the local police chief.

Pathiu district police nabbed conscript soldier Kittipong "Ood" Sukserm, 21, leader of a local gang, after he took a group of 20 youngsters to attack the home of a 15-year-old in the middle of the night.

The boy's mother, Ms Ratchanee, who later laid a complaint with police, said the teens turned up after midnight on Jan 24 on 10 motorcycles and a pickup. While the others stood guard by the vehicles, a group of four or five approached her house. She said her sons, aged 19 and 15, were asleep at the time, while she was sleeping at a house nearby.

"They tried to force the door, called my son's name, swore, and smashed two of the windows when he failed to appear. Shortly after Ood sent him a threatening audio message via a friend's FB. "Unless you have at least five guns, don't even think of fighting, or you will die like a dog," the message said.

Ms Ratchanee said her 15-year-old son, who said he had argued with a member of Ood's gang previously, fled through the back of the house into a nearby plantation. The incident left her family and neighbours shaken.

The gang later turned up at his aunt's place to see if he might have spent the night there, where they broke windows and threw a large stone onto the roof, smashing a tile. Four including the aunt and her daughter-in-law were asleep at the time. The aunt, Anuchita, said the teens came armed with large pieces of wood and knives. She and the others hid at the back of the house while the gang tried to force entry, without success. The next day she laid a police complaint.

Pathiu police chief Pol Col Suphakiat Therttrakul called a meeting with his investigators and Chumphon provincial police. They figured out the identity of three of those involved and sent out forces to nab them. By the end of the day they had found Ood, also known by the nickname of Ood Lai, and two gang members, Kim, 21, and Daeng, 17, who admitted being part of the attack. Kim and Daeng, police say, also tested positive for drug use and have been charged with drug possession.

Ood said he and his gang were drinking at Thung Wua Laen beach on the night of the attack. Kim told him that the 15-year-old had pulled a knife on him, forcing him to flee. Angry that one of his minions was threatened, Ood took his gang to the boy's home to get their revenge.

As police were questioning the trio, an 18-year-old man turned up to say he wanted to press serious assault charges against Ood, whom he said had attacked him a month before. He said Ood and three of his followers, who were on a motorcycle, had attacked him with a Sparta knife as he was riding pillion on a motorbike owned by a friend.

"They stabbed me in the right arm and I needed 19 stitches. I was in hospital for three days and spent another month recovering at home," said the complainant, who was not identified in news reports.

Ood, police said, signed up as a soldier last year to serve his conscription, and was assigned to a village to check for the Covid-19 virus on the Thai-Myanmar border in Tha Sae district. He was on leave at the time of the attack.

Previously, police say, he was involved in a FB live session in which he abused Pathiu police chief Pol Col Suphakiat, who charged him with defamation. The Chumphon court convicted Ood, fined him 5,000 baht and ordered him to serve probation.

For the latest offending, police have charged the trio with trespass and property damage. Ood has also been charged with assault causing serious injury.

Pol Col Suphakiat said senior police commanders had taken a close interest in the case as the suspects had shown such blatant disregard for the law. They had ordered that all members of the gang be rounded up and charged. The case continues.

Imposter cops try drug con

Police are warning Thais against succumbing to threats by so-called police volunteers after a group of four imposters extorted young people of cash and gold after they were caught taking the kratom stimulant.

Two youngsters, Noppadon Saetun and Athibdee Phermphul, complained to Na Jomtien police in Chon Buri last week. They had visited the station only hours before after four men and women claiming to be police volunteers, who often operate at village level, turned up at their home in Nong Prue of Chon Buri's Bang Lamung district and arrested them for having kratom, a category 5 drug, in their possession.

The complainants were drinking an illegal mix of boiled kratom leaf and cough mixture when the group turned up on Jan 24. They identified themselves as police volunteers, and demanded more than 9,000 baht and Noppadon's gold ring in exchange for turning a blind eye to the drugs charge.

However, they still took the pair to Na Jomtien station where they were able to persuade uniformed police to record the arrests and release the pair on bail.

The young men were angry the group of four went back on their word. Hours after their first visit to the station they went back to make a complaint, when police on staff told them the so-called volunteers who nabbed them were actually fake.

Mr Noppadon said the group took them to their vehicle and would not let them talk to anyone at home before they left. "One said if I paid them 5,000 baht they would drop the case. I had that amount in a bag which I was keeping for my son. They took me back to get the bag, but didn't allow me to count it.

"They also asked if there was any more and my friend transferred another 1,000 baht. They also asked for my ring and took us to a gold shop but the place was closed," he said. The gang kept asking for money until they had paid 9,000 baht.

Later they took the pair to the station, but told them not to say anything about the money they had taken, or they would face even heavier charges.

After receiving the pair's complaint, the station chief, his deputy and a group of his officers went in search of the imposters, and rounded up two of them, Phumin Phanomwongkasem, 34, and Ruthairat Suksamran, 31, who admitted extorting the young men. Police are still looking for the others.

Na Jomtien chief Pol Col Santi Choochert said Thais should be wary of such cons. If people are suspicious about Thais claiming to be police volunteers, they should ask at the local station.

The suspects were neither police volunteers and nor did his station have any based there. However, one of the suspects had been a police volunteer in the past and was able to call on his familiarity with staff on the day they took the complainants to the station to persuade them to record the "arrests".

The young complainants said they were relieved the two had been caught, as they were too scared of possible reprisals to go home.

This is not the first time errant police volunteers have been in trouble with the law. On June 25 last year, Crime Suppression Division police nabbed "Suriya", 43, in Ratchaburi, for skipping bail on an extortion charge in early 2018.

He and two others claiming to be volunteer police persuaded a married couple running a food shop in soi Ramkhamhaeng 2 in Prawet to pay them 50,000 baht after they searched their shop, where they sold curry on rice, and found kratom leaves there.

Police charged Suriya and the other two suspects the following month with extortion and holding the pair against their will, but Suriya skipped bail. He took up work as a valet for restaurants in Pattaya before the CSD finally caught up with him, staying with relatives in Ratchaburi.

Wife beater meets his match

Netizens are praising a plucky 11-year-old girl who contacted a foundation for helping stricken women and children after her stepfather beat up her mother during a video call.

The girl, Nong A, contacted the Paveena Hongsakul Foundation after her stepfather assaulted her mother, Aom, 28, threatened to cut her throat and shave off all her hair.

The young girl said her stepfather, who had a history of arguing with her mother, called her and another family member in Rayong on Jan 20 to show them his handwork. As the pair looked on, he beat her mother, and boasted he was holding her against her will.

Nong A, worried about her mother's plight and unable to reach her again, contacted the foundation, which helps battered women and children, via Facebook on Jan 22. Ms Paveena said she contacted the girl's grandmother, with whom she was staying in Rayong, and persuaded them to go to the police. They were later able to go to Aom's aid in another province.

Nong A, the elder of her mother's two children, said her mother and stepfather both have children from previous marriages, but none together. They had been together about six years and registered their marriage.

The young girl moved to live with her stepfather's family in Chachoengsao last month, while her mother and stepfather himself rent a place in Chon Buri where they work on a construction site. Previously, they were security guards.

Nong A said the saga started when her mother went to hospital on Jan 18 with stomach pains. Her stepfather, who was not named in news reports, went back to their place to pick up her belongings. He checked her phone while he was there where he found evidence, he said, that Aom had been chatting to another man. When she returned from hospital he beat her out of jealousy.

The next morning, Nong A travelled to her grandmother's home in Rayong. She had asked to move because she was unhappy with the way her stepfather had been arguing with her mother in Chon Buri and did not want to be close to his family. Coincidentally, her stepfather took her mother back to his family home in Chachoengsao the same day. Nong A did not get to see her mother's injuries until a day later when he made his video call.

"He hit my mother in front of us so we could see it. Her face and body were covered in bruises. I was scared my mother's life was in danger so sought help," she said later.

Ms Paveena said she asked the girl and her grandmother to go to the police. Officers in Chachoengsao went to see Aom on Jan 23, only to find her husband had taken her that morning back to their home in Chon Buri. Police caught up with her there and took her to hospital for a checkup. She was also reunited with Nong A, whom netizens have praised for her courage and determination to help her mother.

Ms Paveena, who also met the pair, said Aom will remain under the foundation's care while she figures out what to do with her life. She said it was up to Aom whether she presses charges against her husband, as the pair were legally married.

"However, the person who alerted us is her own daughter who couldn't stand seeing her mother being assaulted," she said, by way of encouragement. The case continues.