The Don Muang police chief and four other senior officers have been abruptly transferred to inactive posts following a military-led raid on a gambling den in their area on Friday in which 61 gamblers were caught.
The five officers transferred are Pol Col Surachet Bundit, chief of the Don Muang station; Pol Lt Col Patikorn Sornchai, deputy station chief responsible for crime suppression; Pol Lt Col Akkrarawin Sukhonthavit, deputy chief responsible for investigation; Pol Maj Witthawat Saengperm, crime suppression chief; and Pol Maj Pakphum Buncharoenpanit, investigation chief, Thai media reported on Saturday.
They were moved to the Metropolitan Police Division 2 pending an inquiry.
The order, signed by division chief Pol Maj Gen Charoen Srisasalak, came after a combined team of soldiers and police raided a gambling den in the Song Prapha area of Don Muang district on Friday evening. A total of 61 people were arrested and a large quantity of gambling materials seized.
Pol Maj Gen Sanit Mahathavorn, acting chief of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, said on Saturday that officers would launch an investigation into allegations that influential people had been behind the operation of the gambling den.