Three residents of Narathiwat's Sungai Padi district are accusing local police of extorting 400,000 baht from them in exchange for freeing them from detention after what they described as a "fake" drug crackdown.
Arsueming Masalae, 46, Ibroheng Dolo, and Sarida Binboheng have submitted their complaint and asked that it be passed on to 4th army commander Pornsak Poonsawat. All three plaintiffs belong to the same family.
Rungruang Thimabut, chief of Sungai Padi district office, and some other local administrative officials served as witnesses when the petition was submitted at the Interior Ministry's Damrongdhama Centre office in Sungai Padi.
In their complaint, the three said they were traveling with some children in a pickup truck, heading to Hat Yai district of Songkhla.
They said this was a Children's Day leisure trip, and they were surprised when the vehicle was stopped in tambon Paluro, also in Sungai Padi, by a four-door pickup truck carrying eight people claiming to be police officers.
The purported police demanded the family leave the car so they could search it for narcotics, the complaint read.
After the search, the officers allegedly told the family that five bags of heroin had been found inside.
The police then gave them an ultimatum, according to the complaint: pay 500,000 baht to the officers or be arrested for possessing illegal drugs.
The three claim they were only able to raise 400,000 baht.
They said the police agreed to take the money, adding it was handed over at an investigation room inside the station.
Maj Saranchai Chitpetch, an officer with the 48th Military Ranger Regiment, which acted as an intermediary in transmitting the complaint, said he would hand it to the 4th army commander as soon as possible.