Twenty-one civil servants in Khon Kaen tested positive for drugs during a recent crackdown on drugs and weapons in all 26 districts of the northeastern province, authorities have said.
Governor Kraisorn Kongchalard made the revelation during a briefing that he and Pol Maj Gen Noppakao Sommanat, the chief of Khon Kaen police, held on Friday about the operation.
More than 760,000 speed pills, some amounts of crystal methamphetamine and ecstasy pills, many guns, war weapons, explosives and rounds of ammunition were seized during raids at 880 locations in the province in the previous four weeks, said Mr Kraisorn.
A total of 192 suspects were arrested for firearms offences with 184 weapons and 508 rounds of ammunition seized. Two more face charges of illegally selling firearms and explosives, he added.
Police also apprehended a total of 1,689 suspects on drug charges.
As well, drug tests were conducted on civil servants across the province, with 21 found to have been involved with illicit drugs, said the governor. Punishments ranging from dismissal to expulsion would be taken against them, he added.
Provincial governors and police chiefs have stepped up drug and weapon suppression operations in the past month, ever since the Nong Bua Lam Phu nursery massacre shocked the country. Thirty-six people, 23 of them children, were slain by a police officer who had been sacked for drug use. He later killed himself.
Khon Kaen governor Kraisorn Kongchalard, centre, and senior police officers display weapons and illicit drugs seized during a province-wide crackdown over the past month. (Photo: Chakrapan Natanri)
