The Department of Special Investigation will take legal action against the manufacturers and distributors of allegedly defective bomb detectors if state agencies that bought them decline to do so.
DSI director-general Tarit Pengdith said yesterday he would wait to see whether the agencies take action first.
If they fail to do so, his department would step in, as his investigators had gathered enough evidence.
He said the DSI would take both criminal and civil action against the manufacturer and distributors.
At least 13 state agencies have bought the GT200 and Alpha 6 bomb detectors in the past few years.
His department found the devices were defective and overpriced. Bidding contests to select the suppliers might also have been rigged.
Mr Tarit denied his department was finding fault with any agency.
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Pol Lt Col Pong-in Intarakhao, director of the DSI's Bureau of Security Crime, said the National Electronics and Computer Technology Centre and Britain had concluded the devices did not work as claimed, and many agencies had bought them without testing them scientifically.
Meanwhile, Defence Minister Sukumpol Suwanatat insists the bomb detectors are effective.
"Regarding the GT200 bomb detectors that are being used in the deep South, do not say that they did not work. I say they have worked and detected bombs on many occasions. They are worthwhile when they find even a single bomb," he said.
ACM Sukumpol urged the DSI to talk to the people who use them.
He said the agencies would not have ordered them unless they were sure they worked.
The air force was the first agency to buy the bomb detectors. When he was air force chief-of-staff, it successfully demonstrated the devices before other armed forces chiefs, he said.
ACM Sukumpol said the detection rate was not 100% but the reliability rate was high enough to convince other agencies to buy them. He noted that GT200 devices could detect bombs at long distances well.