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Published on February 2, 2008

Deputy permanent secretary Thongthong Jantharangsu said the inmates themselves who had evidence to support their claims to being victims of the gang could also initiate the process by making requests to the prisons in which they were held.

He said the Justice Ministry would consider the requests on a case-by-case basis and the final approval to release each of them would be granted initially by the new justice minister, and finally endorsed by His Majesty the King.

Meanwhile Nakhon Si Thammarat police have ordered all 61 drug arrests made by Pol Captain Nat Chonnitiwanich and his men since 2006 reopened, whether they have run their course, have ended in convictions or are still under way.

Provincial police chief Maj-General Krajang Suwannarat said the relatives of hose imprisoned could file requests for a reinvestigation on the victims' behalf and also lodge civil lawsuits against the Royal Thai Police to seek compensation if the final probe found they had been falsely convicted and imprisoned.

A source from the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) said Nat and his team had received over Bt1 million in reward money for more than 100 drug arrests they had made and it was investigating whether the money had been paid out legally in every case.

The source said it had been found that the signature of an ONCB agent had been forged in one case to make the money payable to Nat and his border-patrol policemen.

The ONCB is also investigating whether high-ranking border-patrol officers had actually signed the arrest records, whether their signatures had been forged or whether they had signed in the knowledge that all or some arrests were unlawful.

The source cited ONCB agent Amnart Jitheng's statement that he was aware his signature appeared on some arrest records without his involvement in the raids or arrests.

Three more complaints were made yesterday by eight people to police, one case to Crime Suppression Division officers in Bangkok and two to local police in Kanchanaburi.

A couple later submitted a complaint to Surat Thani provincial governor Winai Buapradit and later to the provincial Human Rights Commission office seeking justice and compensation.

Meanwhile, a senior officer with Mae Suay police in Chiang Rai was discharged from the service pending disciplinary and criminal investigation for his alleged extortion of Bt100,000 from a woman.

Pol Lt-Colonel Chaiwat Hengtrakool was accused of demanding the money after he arrested the woman, who later filed a complaint with a superior officer who investigated the matter and ordered Chaiwat out of the service.

The Nation