Former Bangkok police chief Kamronwit Thoopkrachang remains in Japanese police custody pending a local prosecutors' decision on whether to indict him for possession of a gun, a process that may take 20 days.
Pol Lt Gen Prawut Thavornsiri, assistant police chief and police spokesman, said on Wednesday Japanese police had already sent the case of Pol Lt Gen Kamronwit carrying a gun at Narita airport to public prosecutors who had up to 20 days to decide if there should be an indictment.
The prosecutors had not yet made a decision, but spoke with Pol Lt Gen Kamronwit's lawyer on Thursday, the police spokesman said. The Thai ambassador to Tokyo assigned the lawyer to Pol Lt Gen Kamronwit.
"If public prosecutors indict him, his release on bail will be requested," he said.
The spokesman quoted the Thai embassy as reporting that the former Bangkok police chief was arrested at Narita airport at about 5pm on Monday, June 22 on his way back to Thailand.
Pol Lt Gen Kamronwit, 60, joined a delegation of sub-district administrators in Pathum Thani province that accepted a Japanese invitation to inspect waste-to-energy facilities.
Pol Lt Gen Prawut said Pol Lt Gen Kamronwit had confessed to owning the pistol and forgetting he had left it in his medicine pouch.
He had had the pouch loaded into the cargo compartment of his plane to Japan, but for the return trip he kept the pouch in a bag he was carrying, the spokesman said.
The pistol was legally registered and was very small, slightly bigger than a Mercedes Benz key, he said. He could not identify the make of the small revolver but said that with vertical x-ray screening, security authorities might not have recognised it.
The police spokesman said if Pol Lt Gen Kamronwit is convicted, he would be detained in Japan for a certain period before a request for his transfer to a Thai jail could be submitted.
"Japan's firearm law is strict. A violator is liable to one to ten years in jail. If ammunition is included, the term can be three to ten years," Pol Lt Gen Prawut said. The ex-Bangkok police chief was reportedly arrested with the pistol and five bullets.
Transport Minister Prajin Juntong said on Wednesday that Pol Lt Gen Kamronwit had departed from Suvarnabhumi airport on June 18 and x-ray screening at the airport had not spotted a gun in his luggage. He had also not requested permission to take a gun out of the country.
Prasong Poontaneat, chairman of Airports of Thailand Plc, said Pol Lt Gen Kamronwit had exited Suvarnabhumi airport through a VIP channel of Thai Airways International.