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Two separate investigations are now probing Phuket's weekend  riot

Phuket Police Begin to Trace Criminals Who Triggered Weekend Riot

Tuesday, October 13, 2015
PHUKET: Four teams of police are now pursuing different aspects of Phuket's riot investigation with the holiday island's governor urging people involved in the protest to stay calm and accept the need for action.

''Tourism is Phuket's lifeblood and anything that affects the island's reputation for safety and security does damage,'' said Governor Jamleran Tipayapongtada.

Observers are fearful that the hotheads, drunks and anarchists who committed crimes in the siege of Thalang Police Station at the weekend may be protected by their friends and family when it's essential that justice is carried out.

A vice governor will lead the independent panel investigating the deaths of the two young men from Baan Don in a motorcycle crash. That tragedy triggered the riot on Saturday night and Sunday morning.

The independent panel, with the Army and the families of the victims as observers, has 30 days in which to report.

Many of the young men who led the weekend rock-throwing and the attacks on police, and blocked an ambulance carrying a dying man to hospital, later posted mischievous messages on Facebook.

Those defiant insults have mostly been taken down. Officers most likely wasted no time in noting identities.

Police already have the evidence of 17 oficers wounded in the fracas, security camera footage and other witnesses who would have been horrified at what they heard and saw.

The first wounded officers gave evidence yesterday at Phuket City Police Station. More will follow.

The question is whether police will make arrests in the normal way or whether Army support will be considered necessary.

Four teams of investigating police have been set up.

The first team of officers will pursue the young men who attacked police; the second team will pursue whoever was responsible for burning the cars and motorcycles; the third team will target anyone who was using illicit drugs; the fourth team will look at the perpetrators of property damage to the Thalang Police Station.

Many of the people who were in the vicinity of the riot gathered again at Baan Don school on Sunday, along with others who had no involvement but were concerned about the outcome.

It was plain to Phuketwan reporters that some people involved in the protest are likely to resist moves to arrest those who committed crimes.

The level-headed and responsible people in the community have to persuade others to accept what follows, and that probably means the arrest in the next few weeks of scores of young men from the village.

Pleas to the governor for an amnesty and no prosecutions over what took place were turned down flat.

''From now on, there must be serious law enforcement,'' the governor said yesterday.

''Tourists could not understand what happened at the weekend. Please trust our teams to take care of Phuket and when justice has been done, everything will be in order.''

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A fourth team will lock tires of tuktuks parked in no parking zones.

A fifth team will confiscate jetskis and parasails.

A sixth team will arrest the drug dealers in front of burger king.

Posted by Roguer on October 13, 2015 16:54


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