BANGKOK – The Royal Thai Police (RTP) reported on Friday that one officer has been dismissed and four others are facing both criminal and disciplinary action over alleged corruption tied to the unlawful release of Chinese detainees.
All five are investigators under the Metropolitan Police Bureau, according to Pol Lt Gen Trairong Phiwphan, deputy inspector-general and deputy spokesperson.
The case focuses on claims that investigators worked together to remove Chinese nationals from immigration detention for criminal proceedings, then failed to return them for deportation. That meant the detainees vanished from official custody.
Investigators reviewing records found that from 2021 to 2025, officers requested the temporary transfer of 131 Chinese detainees from immigration detention.
Five investigators, ranging from a police captain to a Lt. Colonel was accused of demanding bribes from foreign detainees. One of the officers allegedly sought transfers for more than 30 detainees.
“The RTP has already dismissed one of the five officers, Pol Capt Chaiya (surname withheld), today. The remaining four are facing both criminal charges and serious disciplinary proceedings,” Pol Lt Gen Trairong said.
Police Expand the Investigation
Pol Lt Gen Trairong said the five officers took fraud complaints, collected evidence, and secured arrest warrants for people who were already being held by immigration police while awaiting deportation. The detainees were then moved into police custody for legal action.
Immigration police followed the requests because they came with court warrants, but they also put in writing that the detainees had to be returned once the cases were finished. “However, the detainees were not returned as required,” Pol Lt Gen Trairong said.
The inquiry is now expanding to include everyone involved, including complainants, lawyers, middlemen, and police. Investigators are also checking money trails and possible criminal networks.
Pol Gen Kittharath Punpetch, the national police chief, has ordered a nationwide review of detainee releases going back 10 years. The goal is to see if similar problems happened elsewhere.
Pol Lt Gen Trairong said investigators must check whether this came from a system weakness or clear criminal intent, step by step. If wrongdoing is proven, he said, it could amount to creating criminal cases to stop suspects from being deported back home.
The investigation began after the Chinese Embassy alerted Thai authorities in January last year about the unexplained disappearance of a detainee named Ma Guangxue, who was due to be deported.
The Immigration Bureau previously said it carried out the transfers based on court orders presented by police investigators, adding that refusing to comply could itself be seen as misconduct.
Taiwanese Drug Kingpin Arrested
In other police news, a Taiwanese man believed to be a key figure in a cross-border drug network has been arrested during a police raid at a Bangkok condominium. Officers from the Narcotics Suppression Bureau (NSB), Immigration Bureau, and Metropolitan Police Bureau arrested Chiang Ming Feng, 27, in the Asoke area on Thursday.
Investigators said he was wanted on overseas warrants and had been hiding in Thailand.
During the search, police found about five grams of ketamine, several large carpets with hidden spaces for concealing powder, a sewing machine, and packing tools thought to be used to prepare drugs for shipping abroad.
Investigators described Mr Chiang as the “brain” of the group, saying he knew advanced concealment methods. They believe the network turned heroin into a white liquid similar to cosmetic lotion, then put it into fake product containers to avoid detection before sending it overseas through the international express mail system (EMS).
The NSB said it had intelligence that two crates of liquid heroin, weighing about 10 kilogrammes, had earlier been smuggled from Laos to Taiwan. That information helped police identify and track down the suspected ringleader.
A background check found Mr Chiang is wanted in Taiwan on four serious charges, including attempted murder, involvement in a criminal organisation, fraud, and theft.
Pol Lt Gen Achayon Kraithong, the NSB commissioner, said the arrest was a key step in disrupting a complex transnational drug operation. NSB officers are working with other agencies and Taiwanese authorities to move the case forward. The Immigration Bureau has revoked Mr Chiang’s permission to stay in Thailand and handed him over to the NSB for prosecution under Thai law.
Investigations are continuing with support from both Thai and international partners as police look for other suspects linked to the network, the NSB chief said.
