Thai leader orders drug crackdown after preschool mass killing

Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha ordered a clampdown on drugs and tighter enforcement of gun control rules, after a mass killing that left 37 people dead sparked calls for tougher policies.

Prayuth has made drug suppression an urgent national agenda item and ordered police to proactively crack down on illicit substances to restore public confidence, government spokesman Anucha Burapachaisri said in a statement on Monday.

Police will conduct random drug searches, arresting offenders and bringing in users for rehabilitation. Superintendents will monitor their officers for any involvement with drugs, Anucha said. Such involvement will lead to legal action.

Prayuth has also ordered a tightening of gun control rules and strict action against offenders, Anucha said in a separate statement. Police will monitor authorities and individuals with licenses to own guns to ensure they don’t have “behavior that poses a threat to society” or they risk getting the licenses revoked, he said.

The enforcement agencies will also crack down on illegal gun distribution and production hubs and set up checkpoints to block illegal and transnational weapons trade, Anucha said.

The prime minister’s orders came after a former policeman with links to the drug trade killed 36 people in Nong Bua Lamphu province last week, before taking his own life. He had been dismissed from the police force after being arrested for illegal possession of drugs in January.

Despite speculation that the 34-year-old had been under the influence of methamphetamine, commonly known as meth, a blood test found no trace of the drug, police said on Friday.

Opposition parties led by Pheu Thai criticized the government’s anti-drug policies and called for tougher actions. Pheu Thai’s leader Cholnan Srikaew also said his party would devise a “war on drugs” if voted into power.

Former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who lives in self-imposed exile, urged the government to “speed up the suppression of drugs, especially methamphetamine tablets,” following news of the killings in Nong Bua Lamphu. He led an anti-drugs campaign in the early 2000s that has been harshly criticized by human rights campaigners.

Thai authorities seized assets worth $286 million last year under the country’s narcotics law, according to Anucha. They expect to seize drugs worth about 10 times that amount in 2023, he said.

Thailand, the main conduit for drug trafficking along Southeast Asia’s vast Mekong River valley, is also working with neighbors Myanmar and Laos to arrest more offenders, Anucha added.