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Published on February 6, 2008

Acting police chief Seriphisut Temiyavej threatened yesterday to take action against people and prisoners who filed complaints saying they had been framed by a "border patrol gang" but could not prove their claims.

The police general said he had formed a committee to verify evidence or statements lodged by people who said they were convicted and imprisoned as a result of wrongful arrests initiated by the rogue gang and its alleged leader Pol Captain Nat Chonwisitwanich.

Speaking during an inspection of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, Seriphisut said people who could not show evidence to support their claims of innocence would be charged with filing false statements and defaming police officers.

Seriphisut said he had heard people making a complaint about three major generals signing an arrest record after a person was apprehended in Bangkok last year by Nat and his gang, but had not yet received an official report on the matter.

Law Society of Thailand chairman Dej-udom Krairit yesterday condemned Nat and his gang before commenting that they should all be sentenced to death if found guilty of the offences they've been accused of.

"Their crimes were committed in a shameless, inhumane and brutal manner. They are bad people who deserve to be executed," he said.

He also called for a drastic amendment to the existing Criminal and Criminal Procedural Codes to plug loopholes that allow corrupt policemen to abuse their powers and exploit innocent people.

Dej-udom urged the Justice Ministry to initiate the amendment process.

The subsequent changes would improve the country's image in the eyes of the world, as Thailand had recently signed an international pact to safeguard human rights.

The Law Society also set up a special panel to conduct a parallel investigation into all cases or complaints involving Nat and his gang alongside that being carried out by the police. Dej-udom also called for the end to special anti-narcotics laws governing police sting or entrapment operations that give officers a wide range of powers.

Among the many people accusing Nat and his gang was a woman who said the Border Patrol Captain and his men had stripped her naked before torturing her.

Chanthana Phuengyaem, from Samut Songkhram, said Pol Colonel Surakit Khlai-udom and five men raided her home in February 2004.

They stripped her before putting a large plastic bag over her head to simulate suffocation.

She alleged the rogue police opened her safe with a blowtorch and made off with Bt80,000. Chanthana was later freed.

Sunart Bunprasert, from Prachuap Khiri Khan, said the gang used a stun gun on her son's genitals and suffocated him with a plastic bag over his head - to make her to confess to possessing 400 amphetamine tablets. Her son Sarawut Bunprasert is now in court custody awaiting sentencing.

The Nation