A total of 28 prison
wardens and officials found involved in bringing in illicit drugs, mobile
phones and other prohibited items into prisons have been dismissed over the
past six months.
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| Corrections Department chief watches a prison official demonstratethe firing of a homemaderocket launcher found outside the walls of Khlong Pai prison in Nakhon Ratchasima. |
The Corrections
Department has seized 9,513 mobile phones and smartphones, 5,834 Sim cards,
58,991 methamphetamine pills, and about 6,577 grammes of crystal meth, or ya
ice, in prison cells across the country during the six-month crackdown, said
department chief Suchart Wong-anantchai.
The department has so
far fired 28 prison officials and wardens found to have colluded with inmates
to smuggle in illicit drugs, communication devices and other banned items, he
said.
He threatened to take
drastic action against rogue prison officials who refused to turn over a new
leaf. They would face both criminal and disciplinary action as well as have
their assets seized, he said. He admitted there was a shortage of devices to
detect banned items sent by relatives of inmates or visitors in the form of
gifts.
Only nine maximum
security prisons equipped with high-tech security equipment have not allowed
relatives to bring in any items for inmates, he said during a press conference
yesterday.
A source said some
inmates had used bottles of oyster oil, bars of soap and canes to hide smuggled
mobile phones.
Some seized mobile
phones were found to be satellite phones that made it hard for cell phone
jammers to block communication. Mobile phones fitted with solar cells were also
smuggled into the prisons, the source said.
Montri Bunnag, an
official at the Central Correctional Institution for Drug Addicts, yesterday
said many mobile phones and smartphones had been smuggled into the facility,
which was hit by last year's flooding.
The 60 smuggled
communication devices, which could fetch up to 10 million baht, had been hidden
in cement bags and other construction materials.
An initial
investigation found an engineer hired to repair the flood-hit facility had
allegedly smuggled in those smartphones with internet access, said Mr Montri,
adding the engineer was found to have close ties with a convicted drug
trafficker.
A probe into the
smuggling of mobile phones into Nakhon Si Thammarat prison found that a major
drug inmate had asked members of his drug network outside the prison to
establish close ties with owners of land plots near the prison, a source at the
Corrections Department said.
If any land owner had
a daughter, a drug member would get married to the woman by offering a dowry of
100,000-300,000 baht.
After the marriage, the
gang would use the land plot as a site to throw mobile phones over the prison
wall, the source said.
A Corrections
Department official said hitman inmate Chusak Numluemkhid, alias "Sua
Muek" had been hired by a major drug gang to collect debts from drug
dealers outside prison.
Chusak, recently
transferred from Chumphon jail to the Nakhon Si Thammarat prison, reportedly
used members of his network outside the prison to collect debts.
He reportedly has
about 10 million baht kept outside the jail.
Vocabulary
contraband ADJ. ที่ค้าขายผิดกฏหมาย syn. smuggle, bootleg
sack N. กระสอบ การไล่ออกจากงาน เตียงนอน syn. discharge, dismiss,
kick out turn over
warden N. พัศดีเรื่อนจำ syn. jailer, turnkey
illicit ADJ. ผิดกฏหมาย syn. illegal, prohibit
fire VT. ไล่ออก ปลุกเร้า syn. sack, dismiss, discharge
collude VI. สมรู้ร่วมคิด sym. conspire, connive
drastic ADJ. รุนแรง syn. radical, severe
refuse N. ขยะ ของเสีย syn. garbage, rubbish, trash
VT. ปฏิเสธ ไม่อนุญาติ syn. deny, decline, reject
turn over a new leaf PHRV. ปรับปรุงตัว แก้ตัวใหม่
discipline N. การฝึกฝน การลงโทษ ข้อบังคับ syn. continence, restraint
equip VT. จัดหามาให้ syn. give, provide, supply
hire VI. จ้าง syn. employ
convict N. นักโทษ
VT. พิสูจน์ว่ามีความผิด
found VT. สร้าง พบ ค้นพบ syn. establish, set up
close ties N. สายสัมพันธ์
alias N. ฉายา นามแฝง
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