The Defence Ministry has discharged a naval officer who was caught on camera berating and threatening police officers at a restaurant in Sattahip, Chon Buri, on Dec 26.
Gen Worakiat Rattananont, permanent secretary for defence, on Friday signed an order on behalf of Prime Minister and Defence Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, to dismiss Capt Alongkorn Ploddee without a pension, finding him guilty of serious disciplinary violations. The order was effective immediately.
Video of Capt Alongkorn throwing glass jugs in the restaurant and venting his anger at a group of police officers and restaurant staff who were trying to keep order was widely shared online.
The disgraced officer, appearing intoxicated, claimed that Gen Prayut and assistant national police chief Surachate Hakparn knew him well. He also claimed that he was “the biggest in the country” and had the power to shut down all restaurants in the area because Sattahip was a “stronghold of the navy, not the police”.
It turned out that the incident in Sattahip was not the first time the officer had misbehaved in public. After the Dec 26 video went viral, another video emerged online of the same officer hurling verbal abuse at police officers in front of a restaurant in Ekkamai district of Bangkok on Dec 16. On that occasion, he claimed that he had served as a royal guard for 18 years and was in charge of the entire eastern region.
The incident prompted the Royal Thai Navy to subject Capt Alongkorn to disciplinary action, prior to the dismissal order.