Drug kingpin "Benz Thasai" on Thursday said he would surrender to the police if they would publicly profess they had never taken bribes from him.
Police and soldiers inspect cars at a checkpoint in Sangkhla Buri district in Kanchanaburi province near the border with Myanmar as they look for drug kingpin Adisak "Benz Thasai" Srisa-ard. (Narcotics Suppression Bureau photo)
Benz, whose real name is Adisak Srisa-ard, 26, posted a challenge on Facebook for police to "stand up and support" the innocence of a deputy he claimed to have bribed.
He claimed he had met a "Deputy Theerawat" and had audio clips of a bribe being exchanged. As well, he had copied all of the banknotes he handed to police.
On his Facebook page, Mr Adisak taunted police by saying he had dignity for admitting he was a drug dealer. But police would not admit to taking bribes and have accused him of lying.
Benz Thasai
The Facebook challenge marks the latest chapter in the long-running pursuit of the fugitive druglord, who authorities accuse of being the leader of the largest narcotics ring in Suphan Buri and nearby provinces.
Police assume he posted his online message via a mobile phone. Its signal was possibly sent from the Phaya Tong Su area in Myanmar, about two kilometres from the Thai border adjacent to the Three Pagodas border pass in Sangkhla Buri district of Kanchanaburi province.
Senior police in the region met in Sangkhla Buri Thursday and planned to ask Myanmar authorities to arrest and extradite Mr Adisak.
Police intensified their manhunt this week after Mr Adisak allegedly wrote on Facebook that he planned to kill all the police in Si Prachan station and their families in Suphan Buri. Officers had recently arrested several of his family members and accomplices on drug charges.
Mr Adisak claimed the arrests came after he had discontinued bribes to police.
National police chief Pol Gen Somyot Poompanmuang earlier called Benz a dangerous criminal and vowed that police would arrest him and dismantle his network.
Mr Adisak is from Suphan Buri. He allegedly began his criminal career about five years ago as a drug mule in his hometown.
After becoming a dominant force domestically, Mr Adisak is accused of trading narcotics across the border with a Myanmar gang led by Lt Col Yi Se, who is wanted in Thailand with a bounty of 5 million baht for information leading to his arrest.
Mr Adisak also is said to have been entrusted by Maj Chaiya, leader of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, to protect his drug network along the border on the Myanmar side, and always travelled with a group of armed men.