Row over top cop on national park hunting trip

Police yesterday asked authorities to revoke the permits for eight guns seized from nine men, including Pol Lt Colonel Theerayuth Katemangmee, |suspected of killing wildlife for food in Kaeng Krachan National Park in Phetchaburi last November.

Pol General Jaramporn Suramanee, an assistant National Police chief, said each suspect would be prosecuted differently according to the charges laid against him, including gun possession, illegal hunting in a national park and trespassing in a national park.

Only one of the eight guns has been confirmed as having been used during the hunting trip after police found a bullet fired from it. Police yesterday also dug up a mouse deer carcass for further inspection.

Theerayuth, assigned to Prachuap Khiri Khan's Pranburi Police Station, was accused by park officials of illegal hunting along with the eight civilians.

They reportedly went into the park to hunt for wildlife on November 10 and the cameras seized from them contained pictures of the group, including the officer, at a hunting camp eating the meat of prey that was killed in the park.

However, on January 22, police indicted only the eight citizens. They claimed a "lack of clarity" in the officer's role in the illegal hunting trip stopped them from pursuing an indictment against Theerayuth, who now faces a probe for committing a severe disciplinary offence.