Mass shootings and gun violence are sweeping over Thailand as firearm misuse continues to make headlines every day. A nationwide sting has netted 61 suspects and seized a hundred forty five firearms along with almost 9,000 rounds of ammunition, a half of a countrywide operation to stamp out the net illegal arms commerce.
New national police chief Pol Gen Damrongsak Kittiprapas marked his first official day on the job on Saturday by announcing the outcomes of “Ghost Guns Operation, Season 2“.
Gen Damrongsak said that there had been an increase in crime involving use of weapons, either to assault or threaten others, or as part of robberies. There was, he said, no fear of the legislation.
Recent police investigations discovered that many weapons used in crimes had been bought on-line. The basic cited a current shootout at a restaurant in downtown Ubon Ratchathani, along with the unintended discharge of a student’s gun in class that killed a pal in Nonthaburi.
Ranked as Southeast Asia’s second most-dangerous nation by way of gun crime after the Philippines, Thailand recorded 2,351 firearms deaths in 2019 – roughly 31 p.c higher than the numbers for Pakistan, a country routinely described as “war-torn” and alleged residence of thousands of terrorists.
Officers from the CIB and the Crime Suppression Division (CSD) had been sent to look 126 locations in 50 provinces in search of these concerned in the illegal arms commerce, stated chief Damrongsak.
Over 60 suspects had been detained. Eight had been already wanted on unlawful firearms warrants.
Officers seized 10,000 items, together with one hundred forty five weapons, 9,000 rounds of ammunition and various gun parts. Four of the seized firearms had been assault weapons.
About one in ten individuals in Thailand legally personal a gun. There are more than six million registered guns in thecountry with a population of sixty six.7 million. The total number of weapons, both licit and illicit, held by Thai civilians in 2017 was 10,300,000, equating to fifteen.1 firearms per 100 inhabitants. Comparable figures for the other ASEAN nations are: Cambodia four.5 per one hundred inhabitants, Philippines 3.6, Singapore zero.three, and Vietnam 1.6.
Pol Lt Gen Jirabhop Bhuridej, the CIB commissioner, said the investigations took a number of months as there are numerous networks selling firearms online.
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