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If their families or some rights group wants to sue him, says the chief of police in Angthong province, they can bring it on.

"Humans who destroy their fellow humans with narcotics through drug dealing are inhumane in my opinion," says the flamboyant crimebuster.

"These people don't deserve to be treated as humans."

Wisut recently stuffed a bag of dope in a drug suspect's mouth and made him keep it there throughout a press conference. When the chief was interviewed later on television, the viewers were asked to show via SMS votes what they thought of his audacious approach.

More than 93 per cent of the 100,000-plus viewers backed the chief.

Wisut says a similar poll on TV drew the support of 62 per cent of the viewers for his decision to label one suspect "inhumane" and another "waste of humanity".

"These people deserve to be shamed this way," he avows.

Clearly the figures aren't 100 per cent, and sometimes well short of that. Wisut has earned enemies. The father of one derided suspect threatened to sue the police chief for defamation, but Wisut swung back.

A truly good father, he said, would have kept his son in check and not let him become a criminal.

So far, no one has taken Wisut to court, and this may be emboldening him. He's considering holding his next press conference with drug suspects in an execution-chamber-style setting, complete with a mock-lethal injection.

Wisut doesn't trust in mere law enforcement to always suppress crime, so other techniques are necessary - like the public embarrassment of suspects, which he regards as a psychological deterrent for others.

"Malaysia executes violent criminals. In some countries they parade criminals around in handcuffs and invite bystanders to spit on them. What do you think of that?"

International standards of human rights cannot be applied unconditionally in Thailand, Wisut maintains.

"The amphetamine trade is rampant only in Thailand and a few other countries," he points out. "The drug dealers here know the suppression methods of Thai police are weak.

"The Angthong police are good and determined, but bravery among them is rare."

The drugs trade in Angthong has declined since that first controversial press conference, he claims.

"Our efficiency rate in drugs suppression is 90 per cent since I had that guy hold a bag of drugs in his mouth. Dealers won't operate in Angthong anymore because they know I mean business!"

Wisut notes that narcotics not only destroy the users but the economy as well.

"Drug abuse causes subsequent social problems, and statistics show that 80 per cent of the users are teenagers. However good the economic measures you have in place, the country can't prosper if the drugs problem persists."

Wisut knows he's been called a "psycho", but if he's psychotic in his duties, he says, it's only a mark of his determination.

"Throughout my 30 years as a policeman, I've always taken my job seriously and I've never been afraid of anyone. All my superior officers, the politicians and even prominent monks have praised me."

Wisut's name first appeared in headlines when he was commander of the national police force's Children. Juveniles and Women Division and brought to book a porn-film actress.

It was an unprecedented move by the cops, and even though the actress wasn't charged, Wisut continued pursuing porn merchants, raiding many distributors.

Wisut was in charge late last year of finding out who secretly videotaped the female singing duo 4Mod in a hotel washroom when he was transferred and made chief of the Angthong police.

He's served in every police department except the marine and railway police, and closed more than 30,000 cases. With five years remaining before his retirement, he's thinking about trying for a Senate seat.

"I'd like to be a senator because I don't want to belong to any political party," he says. "I'll be a watchdog, barking whenever a burglar tries to get in the house or a bad politician tries to plunder the country."

Wisut has since childhood had a special place in his heart for Guan Yu, and credits the Chinese god of honesty for inspiring him to become a policeman.

"According to Guan Yu's teaching," he says, "those who do good will receive good in return, tenfold, and those who do bad will receive 10 times that in punishment."