BangkokPost-Feb 28
Bringing back local elections after more than seven years comes with a renewed sense of fear in Nakhon Nayok where a tambon administrative organization (TAO) head was wounded and his deputy killed in a recent attack. On the evening of Feb 14, at least two gunmen using assault weapons attacked a van carrying TAO members in Nakhon Nayok, in the country’s Central Plains. It is not every day that the Royal Thai Police (RTP) mobilizes more than 100 investigators to work on a case, but it is doing so for this one. National police chief Suwat Jangyodsuk signed an order to appoint a probe team and transferred the case from local police to the Crime Suppression Division (CSD). The high-profile nature of the case warranted a swift police response as it was a brazen act of crime involving senior office-holders. On Feb 22, Pol Maj Gen Theeradet Thammasuthee, commander of investigations at the provincial police region 2 (PPR2), led a combined group of police on a raid on three locations to search for suspects. Theeradet maintained certain areas of Nakhon Nayok are run by mafia. Seven years after the 2014 coup, local elections had remained suspended, which for a while had kept the conflict over local power under wraps. However, with the return of the local polls last year, many new leaders were elected, which pitted them against previous leaders. Read more at: https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2270995/local-polls-prompt-criminal-gangs-return
