The Metropolitan Police Bureau (MPB) Division 2 commissioner, the head of Thung Song Hong police station in Bangkok and four other senior police officials at the station have been transferred, following a crackdown on a major illegal casino in their jurisdiction.
All six were suddenly transferred to the Royal Thai Police's Command Centre while a probe is conducted into whether they were complicit in the casino's operations or why it was able to operate without their knowledge, a source said.
The gambling house on Soi Chaeng Watthana 14 was busted late Monday night.
The transferred officers were: Pol Maj Gen Pattana Phetsayanawin, the Division 2 commissioner; Pol Col Kritsphon Phetsotsin, the police station chief; Pol Lt Col Surin Phurit and Pol Lt Col Thanit Bunmaen, both deputy station chiefs; Pol Maj Natthaphong Rongkokoet, the station's chief investigator; and Pol Maj Kittiphot Inchan, the head of its crime suppression unit, said the source.
On Monday night, officers from the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) and the MPB raided the gambling den, located in Lak Si district, and arrested 89 suspects, including 17 foreigners, the source said.
CIB commissioner, Pol Lt Gen Torsak Sukvimol, said the crackdown was in response to national police chief, Pol Gen Suwat Jangyodsuk's directive to step up suppression of illegal gambling activities, which are seen as potential Covid-19 clusters.
The Chaeng Watthana gambling den was operated by a man who police only identified as Mr S, said Pol Lt Gen Torsak.
All those arrested in the raid were screened for Covid-19 before being charged with illegal gambling, he said.
The 17 foreigners arrested were seven people from Myanmar, six Cambodians, three Lao and one Vietnamese national, he said.
Meanwhile, local police, excise officers and health officials raided a well-known night club in Hat Yai district of Songkhla and arrested a woman who claimed to be the owner of the premises.
No Covid-19 control protocols were being observed at the club where a large number of young clubbers were dancing at the time of the raid, said another source.
Anthika Dokho, 39, the supposed club owner, was charged with selling alcohol after midnight, violating Covid-19 transmission control directives and violating the provisions of the emergency decree, said the source.