Police Busted for Using Passengers Van for Beach Party

Senior police officers in northeastern Thailand are searching for answers on how a police passenger van and a group of officers ended up at a beach party in Phetchaburi province.

The commissioner of Nakhon Ratchasima province police Panurat Lakboon has ordered an internal investigation after a video was posted on Kapook showing police officers and women in holiday outfits getting out of the passenger van at Cha-am beach and eating in the beach chairs.

After the video was posted on Facebook many users who watched it commented that the use of a police vehicle for flocking seemed highly inappropriate.

The passenger van belonged to the Phon Krang police station in Nakhon Ratchasima city of the northeastern province, 425 kilometers from Cha-am.

Pol Lt Gen Panurat said on Saturday that Pol Maj Gen Pornchai Nonwachai, chief of Nakhon Ratchasima detachment, had brought the situation to his attention and he had ordered an internal investigation.

An initial investigation found that police officers from the Nakhon Ratchasima city station had no official duties in Phetchaburi and it seems they allegedly took the passenger van for personal use.

If the internal investigation shows that the officers in question used the police passenger van for personal use, they would face disciplinary punishment, he said.

Police bust murderer

Meanwhile, Police in Nakhon Ratchasima have captured a former government official wanted for the shooting and killing of his wife and his stepson. Police apprehended Sawai Khanpakwaen, 60, at a construction site in Nakhon Ratchasima.

According to a spokesperson, Mr. Sawai was the former chairman of a local administration in Nakhon Ratchasima.  He was wanted on a warrant for shooting his wife, who was a provincial Councillor, and her son.

Police said he was wanted on an arrest warrant issued by the provincial court on May 20, 2011, he had been on the lam for 10 years. Mr. Sawai fled after the shooting and was finally tracked down by police to the construction site in Phunphin district.

The suspect told investigators that he held a party at the restaurant, which he and his wife owned. He said they invited local officials and his personal attorney. While talking to his attorney his wife allegedly became suspicious of their conversation.

He told investigators that she thought he was planning on divorcing her for a new wife.