Sawt Falasteen - Thailand sacks senior cop over illicit gambling, fraud

Surachate Hakparn, who served as the kingdom's deputy police chief, was formally dismissed on Tuesday, police said in a statement.

Surachate, widely known by his nickname "Big Joke", was snared in a series of raids in 2023 targeting an illegal online gambling network dubbed "Betflix".

He was charged with money laundering, which he has denied, and suspended from the force while an investigation was under way.

Thai police said on Tuesday his dismissal was in line with "disciplinary procedures for officers under investigation".

Most forms of betting are illegal in Thailand, with authorities striving to shut down illicit gambling dens and websites, which are often foreign-owned.

Long-serving Surachate has been linked to powerful figures in the previous army-aligned government.

He was appointed by then-deputy prime minister Prawit Wongsuwan as chief of the Immigration Bureau in September 2018.

He disappeared in 2019 over unclear reasons, before then-prime minister Prayut Chan-o-Cha made him a special adviser on strategy to police in 2021.

Surachate has 30 days to appeal against his dismissal.

"He has the right to fight the case and appeal," Aek Angsananont, a former deputy police chief and now a member of the national police committee, told public broadcaster Thai PBS.

Surachate's sacking comes days after the death of ex-policeman Thitisan Utthanaphon, nicknamed "Joe Ferrari" for his taste in flash cars, who was serving life in jail for the murder of a suspect during a brutal interrogation.

Last month, Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra urged the Royal Thai police to step up efforts to combat human trafficking and drug-related crimes.

B.Mahmoud--SF-PST