You just have to love Thai news. Some of the things that go on in Thailand you really couldn’t make up, and one in the news today was particularly funny.
It seems the head of a Thai car-smuggling ring managed to escaped from jail in Udon Thani yesterday while one police officer who was supposed to be watching him was “taking a nap” and the other one “went out for a while”.
Anek Ngernsuwan, 37, who had been arrested for allegedly being the head of a car-smuggling and swindling gang, took advantage of the inadequate policing, and sawed his way out of a jail visitation room with a small metal file.
Police believe his wife, who had visited him a few hours earlier, had smuggled the file into the jail.
It was discovered Mr. Ngernsuwan had sawed his way free when one of the police officers, the one who was sleeping, said he noticed the gaping hole in the jail bars a few minutes after he woke up from his short nap, and realized the prisoner had escaped.
But, as if it is not enough that the two police officers appear incompetent, things have gotten even worse for them.
Pol Snr Sgt Maj Rachet Phumjae and Pol Snr Sgt Maj Thongdao Sunarat are now under investigation themselves, as other Thai police are wondering if they were in on the scheme and had possibly been paid by Mr. Ngernsuwan to allow him to escape.
If it is discovered they were, they will likely soon be in jail themselves with criminal charges filed against them. But you can guarantee that’s the only file these two will be given.
Meanwhile, Mr. Ngernsuwan is long gone. He was seen outside the jail being picked up by a white Mazda just a few minutes after his daring escape and, by now, could be as far away as Laos.