Eleven more warrants will be issued next week for the arrest of human trafficking suspects, Nakhon Si Thammarat police revealed.
Pol Lt-General Thesa Siriwatho, chief of Provincial Police Region 8, yesterday said the police in Nakhon Si Thammarat were rushing to process the human trafficking cases ahead of the pending deadline to let attorneys consider whether to issue prosecution orders.
Thesa said the progress was progressing quickly and only 28 suspects were still at large. He said the police would next week ask the court to issue 11 more arrest warrants on the charges of transnational crime and human trafficking. He said it would take the number of suspects in human trafficking cases to 68.
“On the prosecution process, it is up to the attorney decision whether to send the cases to Human Trafficking Criminal Court,” he said.
Dejnarong Sutthicharnbancha, the Royal Thai Police spokesman, said the decision by Pol Maj-General Paween Pongsirin, the former head of the human trafficking investigation team, to go on his holidays abroad was a private matter but he did not think Paween made the move because he was threatened.
“Personally, I don’t think Paween was threatened because of his actions to suppress the human trafficking network. Since he was high-ranking police, he should know how to deal with threats in the police way,” Dejnarong said.
Dejnarong said Paween’s decision to go away was none of his business and he has not spoken to the senior officer about it.
