Barkar Nash (Page 979)

YALA: An army ranger was killed and three other ranger volunteers wounded in a roadside bomb attack in Bannang Sata district of this southern border province on Friday.

The bomb went off on Yala-Betong Road in tambon Bannang Sata, near Ban Taopoon School, around 10am when a patrol of army rangers and ranger volunteers walked past the area, said a police officer at the Bannang Stat district police station’s radio centre. 

An initial investigation found that attackers, who were hiding at a rubber plantation behind the school, immediately detonated the bomb when the patrol arrived at the spot.

The dead ranger was identified as Sgt Sommai Natsuebwong. The injured ranger volunteers were Natthaphol Upatha, who sustained broken legs; Komin Sarathee, who sustained serious shrapnel wounds along his body, and Porncharoen Yokphoonpholdee with head injuries. 

Police cordoned off the scene, pending the arrival of explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) officers to examine the area.

The bomb blast followed a string of arson attacks in three southernmost border provinces late on Thursday night. 

Pol Lt Gen Nanthadet Yoinuan, commissioner of Provincial Police Region 9, reported that mobile phone antenna towers of all mobile systems were torched, and the investigation was ongoing.

EOD officers examine the blast site in Yala’s Bannang Sata district on Friday morning. (Photo supplied/ Wassana Nanuam)

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PHUKET: Three Russian tourists were rescued and one went missing after being swept into the sea by strong waves at the famous Cape Promthep in Muang district of this resort island province on Friday.

The four men had walked along a prohibited zone at the cape in tambon Rawai on Friday morning when the incident occurred, said Pol Lt Col Sakkarin Anusamansakul, a tourist police inspector.

Of the four tourists, Mr Yuriy Smyan, 32, went missing. A search operation was immediately launched for the missing man.

One of the rescued tourists sustained minor injuries and was sent to Dibuk Hospital in Muang district. 

According to Arun Solos, mayor of tambon Rawai municipality, the Narenthorn rescue centre was alerted of the incident at around 9.30am, and municipal officials boarded jet skis and inflatable boats to help. 

The search continues for the missing tourist. The municipality has coordinated with the Kusoltham rescue foundation and tourist police in the search efforts, said Mr Arun.

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PHUKET: Three Russian tourists were rescued and one is missing after being swept into the sea by strong waves at the famous Cape Promthep in Muang district of this resort island province on Friday.

The four men had been walking along a prohibited zone at the cape in tambon Rawai on Friday morning when the incident occurred, said Pol Lt Col Sakkarin Anusamansakul, a tourist police inspector.

Of the four tourists, Yuriy Smyan, 32, was missing. A search operation was immediately launched for the missing man.

One of the rescued tourists sustained minor injuries and was sent to Dibuk Hospital in Muang district. 

According to Arun Solos, mayor of tambon Rawai municipality, the Narenthorn rescue centre was alerted about the incident at around 9.30am, and municipal officials boarded jet skis and inflatable boats to help. 

The search continues for the missing tourist. The municipality has coordinated with the Kusoltham rescue foundation and tourist police in the search efforts, said Mr Arun.

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PHETCHABURI: Six members of a wildlife trafficking gang were arrested and more than 10 macaques rescued near a hill in the Muang district on Friday morning.

Acting on a tip-off, the police arrived at the foothill of Khao Luang in tambon Thongchai and found a wildlife trafficking gang capturing long-tailed macaques in the area. The officers observed four men and two women using tranquiliser darts to capture the monkeys. 

All six were apprehended, and more than 10 macaques were saved. The authorities also seized a Ford Ranger pickup truck, a Toyota Prius, a Toyota Wish, 80 tranquilizer darts, a bag of animal feeds and other items from the group.

The arrested individuals were identified as Pakorn Suparb, 32, Thawatchai Ngorseng, 20, Thanaphol Sribordindecha, 47, Ms Noppawan Kaewsri, 29, Arwut Kohsraket, 31, and Ms Phatthathidarat Kribngern, 35. 

During questioning, the suspects confessed to travelling from Sa Kaeo province to capture macaques for a customer who would pay them 1,000 to 2,000 baht for each animal. They claimed that they did not know the buyer and that this was their first time.

The police charged the group with colluding to hunt wild animals without permission, illegal possession of wild animals and illegal trade of wildlife. They were handed over to tMuang police station in Phetchaburi for further legal action.

Police arrest six members of a wildlife trade gang and rescue more than 10 long-tailed macaques in Phetchaburi province on Friday. (Photo: Chaiwat Satyaem)

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Twenty-three locations in Thailand’s southernmost provinces were hit by arson attacks late on Thursday night, resulting in the torching of mobile phone antenna towers and power poles and the burning of tires.

The incidents occurred between 9pm and 11pm, officials said on Friday.

The affected areas included seven locations in Muang, Raman and Thanto districts of Yala; twelve locations in Muang, Nong Chik, Sai Buri, and Yarang districts of Pattani; and four locations in Muang, Rueso and Tak Bai districts of Narathiwat.

While mobile phone signals were briefly disrupted in some of the locations, there were no reports of blackouts.

Banners bearing the message “Democracy is Patani peace” were also hung in Chana, Na Thawi, Saba Yoi and Thepha districts of the nearby Songkhla province.

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The days of easily buying marijuana on the streets of Bangkok or Phuket may soon be over.

Four years after the Bhumjaithai party won almost four million votes on a vow to decriminalise cannabis — then carrying it out as the third-biggest bloc in a military-backed government — the tide has turned: most of the parties contesting Sunday’s national election are calling for the measure to be repealed and restrict the use of cannabis to medical purposes. 

“I don’t want my children to grow up in a country where drugs are easy to find and cannabis is liberalised,” said Paetongtarn Shinawatra, a front-runner to be prime minister for the opposition Pheu Thai party, at a recent rally. “We need to suppress drugs.”

Since decriminalisation took effect about a year ago, cannabis has become a hot-button issue dividing political parties as well as the nation’s 52.3 million voters. Those opposed to the policy often cite growing concerns over the negative societal impact of the drug. 

But there has been frustration as well at the legal vacuum that emerged when the plant was decriminalised, effectively unleashing a new industry before lawmakers could pass a bill to regulate it. Months later, legislation to restrict broader use of the drug got bogged down in parliament as some lawmakers said it didn’t go far enough to rein in recreational use. Not long afterwards, the lower house was dissolved to make way for the upcoming election. 

With little regulation, the cannabis industry took off. From more than a million farmers growing the plant to the estimated 4,500 dispensaries that distribute it in every province of the Southeast Asian nation, the cannabis industry was expected to be worth $1 billion by 2025, according to the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce.

Now everyone involved in that supply chain is waiting to see how the weekend vote turns out. 

Among them is 60-year-old Olarn Youkanchanaset, who says he poured more than one million baht into establishing two greenhouses and an indoor growing facility in the backyard of his house in the northeastern province of Buri Ram, the “weed capital” of Thailand and a stronghold of the Bhumjaithai party.  

Olarn Youkanchanaset (Bloomberg photo)

“It’s like I’m left adrift in the ocean,” Mr Olarn said in an interview, surrounded by rows of grow lights blasting down on dozens of blossoming plants. Inside his house, cannabis buds were hung out to dry in a spare bedroom that he had converted into a drying and inventory room. “Any party that can push for cannabis regulation, I will support.” 

Mr Olarn’s sentiment is shared by many growers, especially in Buri Ram, where posters bearing the face of Bhumjaithai’s leader, Anutin Charnvirakul, line the streets, promising an array of policies to lift people’s livelihoods if he’s elected to power.

And while surveys show other parties with a bigger lead, Mr Anutin knows that the election could cast him into a king-making role for the next prime minister again, as it did in 2019 when he threw his support behind current Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, the former junta chief. In an interview, Mr Anutin said support for the cannabis regulation bill that foundered in the last parliament is critical for winning the Bhumjaithai party’s backing. 

“Bhumjaithai is the only party that will ensure the cannabis policy continues onward with a law to support it,” he said in an interview. 

But among those threatening to unravel the policy altogether is Pheu Thai, the party projected in all pre-election polls to sweep the most seats in the new 500-member House of Representatives. 

Re-listing cannabis as a narcotic, though maintaining its medical use, will guard against recreational use that’s corrupting Thai youths, Pheu Thai said. Even the progressive Move Forward Party that has advocated for liberalisation in most other areas is seeking to do the same, saying it’s necessary to go back to square one before gradually allowing wider cannabis use again. 

Away from the politicking and debates in Bangkok, farmers fear losing a significant source of income so soon after getting it. For years, 14 million farmers — who make up the country’s single-largest group of voters — faced volatile export prices of key agricultural commodities from rice to rubber, as well as natural disasters including drought and floods. In just a year, they’ve come to see cannabis as a more resilient lifeline that contributes to higher income and a better livelihood. 

In one rai, or 0.4 acres, farmers can earn about 500,000 baht for a harvest of cannabis buds, compared to about 8,000 baht for rice grown using the same space, according to Siwasan Khobjaiklang, a 41-year-old leader of a network called Sanom that comprises seven farms owned by Buri Ram’s young farmers. 

Siwasan Khobjaiklang (Bloomberg photo)

Mr Siwasan says his dream is for Thailand to have a cannabis law regulating the production and sales of marijuana, allowing farmers to link up with domestic businesses more conveniently and even export the products. 

For the group, what’s at stakes here can make their election choices very simple and all the more important. 

“Cannabis is being held as a political hostage,” Mr Siwasan said in an interview at his farm, where cannabis plants towered over vegetable plots. “It’s only made it halfway to the dream, which is difficult to achieve without legal clarity.” 

It’s not clear how they’ll react if Thailand’s policy, which also allows limited use of cannabis in food and cosmetics, gets scaled back. 

The Bhumjaithai party “did what was promised” when it got cannabis decriminalised, said Kajkanit Sakdisubha, the founder of Taratera, which buys the plant from local growers to sell in its five dispensaries in Bangkok and Chiang Mai. “If it gets reversed, I believe we’ll see a lot of people on the streets wondering if they need to close down shops and farms because a different party is in power and has a different opinion.”

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The Department of Health Service Support (DHSS) is drafting an amendment to the “Protection of a Child Born by Medically Assisted Reproductive Technology Act, B.E. 2558 (2015)” to increase the penalties against those who facilitate illegal surrogacy in the country, including brokers and hired women.

“We are amending this act,” DHSS chief Sura Wisetsak said on Thursday, adding the draft is being made after the department became highly concerned about an increasing number of illegal surrogates in the country.

The department is currently working with the Royal Thai Police’s investigation team to determine whether wrongdoers are exploiting loopholes with foreign criminal syndicates, he said.

The draft aims to increase the financial penalty and jail term for anyone found guilty of being a broker or a hired surrogate, he said. However, he would not go into the details, saying the drafting process is still ongoing.

Illegal surrogacy is a problem in Thailand. During the pandemic, many surrogates could not deliver their babies abroad due to border closures, resulting in some children being born and abandoned in Thailand.

The Department of Special Investigation found that last year, at least 19 children were born in the kingdom via illegal surrogacy. They are now under the care of the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security.

Akom Praditsuwan, deputy DHSS chief, said there are 108 nursing care units providing assisted reproductive technology in state and private hospitals.

The success rate is relatively high at 46%, with 20,000 cases of in-vitro fertilisation and 12,000 artificial breedings, he said.

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Nakhon Si Thammarat: Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said he will quit politics if the United Thai Nation (UTN) Party, of which he is a prime ministerial candidate and its chief strategist, fails to secure enough House seats to form a government in Sunday’s election.

Gen Prayut made the pledge while out canvassing for support on behalf of Nonthiwat Nonthaphak, the party’s election candidate running in the southern province’s third constituency, during a campaign rally in Pak Phanang district.

“The party’s candidates in all constituencies are important to me,” he said.

“If we win only a small number of constituency seats, I will just return home and take a rest,” Gen Prayut went on to say.

“We need to win as many House seats as possible so we can form a strong and solid government that can work faster,” he said, noting with many MPs in parliament, the party will stand a better chance of nominating and choosing a prime minister after the election on Sunday.

“Previously, I had to work with several parties and many groups. Some were easy to deal with, but some were not,” he said.

He went on to say that: “I’ve spent many years as a soldier and went through several crises. Today, I am a politician. It is different. When I spoke to soldiers, I had to be firm.

“But when I speak to people, it is different, and I think I prefer this way,” Gen Prayut said.

“You trusted me once [in the previous election]. Please trust me again [in Sunday’s election,” the prime minister added.

The UTN will hold a final major election campaign rally today, which will be organised around the main theme: “Don’t let Uncle Tu fight alone. Step forward to protect the country. Unite all hearts and minds. United Thai Nation” at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center on Ratchadaphisek Road in Bangkok.

Uncle Tu is Gen Prayut’s nickname.

A number of the party’s key figures will appear on stage to deliver campaign speeches to supporters and voters.

These include UTN leader Pirapan Salirathavi­bhaga, party secretary-general Akanat Promphan, with Gen Prayut scheduled to wrap up the event with his speech.

Gen Prayut will also lead key party figures in campaigning around the city, riding on the back of a pickup truck around key districts tomorrow, which is the last day of campaigning by political parties.

By law, parties must stop their campaigns before 6pm on Saturday.

On Election Day, Gen Prayut will cast his ballot at a polling station beneath a tollway flyover near Soi Pradiphat 5 on Pradiphat Road in Bangkok’s Phaya Thai district, several sources told the Bangkok Post on Thursday.

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Nakhon Si Thammarat: Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said he will quit politics if the United Thai Nation (UTN) Party, of which he is a prime ministerial candidate and its chief strategist, fails to secure enough House seats to form a government in Sunday’s election.

Gen Prayut made the pledge while out canvassing for support on behalf of Nonthiwat Nonthaphak, the party’s election candidate running in the southern province’s third constituency, during a campaign rally in Pak Phanang district.

“The party’s candidates in all constituencies are important to me,” he said.

“If we win only a small number of constituency seats, I will just return home and take a rest,” Gen Prayut went on to say.

“We need to win as many House seats as possible so we can form a strong and solid government that can work faster,” he said, noting with many MPs in parliament, the party will stand a better chance of nominating and choosing a prime minister after the election on Sunday.

“Previously, I had to work with several parties and many groups. Some were easy to deal with, but some were not,” he said.

He went on to say that: “I’ve spent many years as a soldier and went through several crises. Today, I am a politician. It is different. When I spoke to soldiers, I had to be firm.

“But when I speak to people, it is different, and I think I prefer this way,” Gen Prayut said.

“You trusted me once [in the previous election]. Please trust me again [in Sunday’s election,” the prime minister added.

The UTN will hold a final major election campaign rally today, which will be organised around the main theme: “Don’t let Uncle Tu fight alone. Step forward to protect the country. Unite all hearts and minds. United Thai Nation” at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center on Ratchadaphisek Road in Bangkok.

Uncle Tu is Gen Prayut’s nickname.

A number of the party’s key figures will appear on stage to deliver campaign speeches to supporters and voters.

These include UTN leader Pirapan Salirathavi­bhaga, party secretary-general Akanat Promphan, with Gen Prayut scheduled to wrap up the event with his speech.

Gen Prayut will also lead key party figures in campaigning around the city, riding on the back of a pickup truck around key districts tomorrow, which is the last day of campaigning by political parties.

By law, parties must stop their campaigns before 6pm on Saturday.

On Election Day, Gen Prayut will cast his ballot at a polling station beneath a tollway flyover near Soi Pradiphat 5 on Pradiphat Road in Bangkok’s Phaya Thai district, several sources told the Bangkok Post on Thursday.

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