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Published on January 27, 2008

A Trang couple claim the same group of rogue policemen that kidnapped a wealthy Bangkok woman this week abducted them.

They came forward yesterday and said the gang had abducted them from a petrol service station and then framed them on drugs charges.

Pradit Khongmak, 43, and wife Wanpen, 41, assert the same group lured them to a petrol station then arrested them. Electric shocks were administered to both during questioning at Thung Song Border Police Camp, they say.

They were later charged with drugs offences.

Wanpen said a female colleague named Saijai had telephoned her on January 6 at 2pm and asked her and Pradit to collect her from a service station near the Klong Pang market, after which they would go to a card game.

Wanpen had Bt36,000 in cash with her while Pradit had Bt3,900.

When they arrived at the service station a group of men in a pickup abducted them.

They were forced to hand over their valuables and cash.

They were taken to the border-police camp, where they were interrogated about drugs. Wanpen said she had been given electric shocks on the knees and legs for 15 minutes after denying anything to do with drugs.

The next day the couple accompanied the men while they searched their home.

Wanpen said the team leader had told one of the men to plant drugs in the bedroom.

Back at the camp, the couple was forced to sign confessions before being taken to the Rassada district police station.

They were told to confess or they would be assaulted again.

Wanpen said they had confessed.

While they were detained at a courthouse in Trang, officers noticed the wounds from the assault. They were told to file a compliant and released on bail.

The couple visited a hospital, where their injuries were recorded and treated. They did file a complaint against the kidnappers.

Wanpen said Saijai had earlier been arrested for selling methamphetamines, which she had bought from a man named Winai.

She said Saijai had been ordered to call Wanpen and her husband. She believed the men mistook Pradit for a drug-dealer.

Saijai told her she had witnessed the torture and been ordered to implicate the couple in drug-dealing.

Wanpen said she was sure her abductors were the same group that had kidnapped the Bangkok businesswoman.

After her abduction, she learned the men had been investigated and then transferred to Chumphon.

Wanpen and her husband have filed a complaint with the police and the prime minister.

They have sold their business and moved, out of fear for their lives.

The policemen and civilians arrested this week for the Bangkok kidnapping have been remanded in custody at Thon Buri Special Prison and ordered to reappear on February 6. The men deny the charges.

The Taling Chan court denied bail after police submitted that the arrested men could tamper with evidence or intimidate witnesses.

They were arrested on Thursday at a Phya Thai apartment after police learned they had abducted businesswoman Piengjit Peungon, 42, her family and others earlier in the week and extorted more than Bt8 million from them for their release.

Police continue to interview witnesses, collect evidence and check the backgrounds of the suspects.

Metropolitan Police Colonel Banleusak Khlib-ngern said five members of the gang remained on the run.

Banleusak said Senior Sgt-Major Prasarn Sorntawee, Sgts-Major Anuchit Prom-ubon, Anusit Netsuwan and Viroj Seekhao and Lance Corporal Theerasak Klamtako were believed to have fled to the South.

A manhunt is under way. Their commanding officers have been asked to assist in securing their surrender.

A source said police would seek arrest warrants for two more suspected accomplices. Police said the gang had deposited the ransom money in bank accounts in the names of two identified as Pinyo, 33, and Anchalee, 29.

Before the remand hearing, relatives of the suspects visited them at Bang Phlat police station.

Ekkachai Jatumit, the elder brother of suspect Corporal Neramit, believed his sibling had been following orders from a superior.

Ekkachai was prepared to stand bail for his brother.

The Nation