Kanpol Kongmongkol, kneeling third from right, is arrested at his room in Chiang Mai province on Friday for allegedly trying to swindle police officers seeking promotion.
A man pretending to be a close aide of the national police chief has been arrested for offering to help police officers gain promotion in return for payment of 300,000 baht, Provincial Police Region 3 commissioner Pol Lt Gen Somprasong Yenthuan said on Monday.
Police armed with a warrant issued on Oct 5 by the Chiang Mai Provincial Court arrrested Kanpol Kongmongkol, 54, at a rented room on the third floor of a building on Thewarit road in tambon Chuang Phuak in Muang district of Chiang Mai on Friday.
Evidence seized for examination included seven bank deposit passbooks, a mobile phone, a list of police commissioned officers, a communications radio, 11 SIM cards and one ATM card.
Under questioning, Mr Kanpol allegedly confessed to have falsely claimed he was Pol Col Pornchai Chalordet and deputy chief of Metropolitan Police Sub-division 9. Pol Col Pornchai is currently the Nong Khai police superintendent.
He used the name Pol Col Pornchai to register with the LINE app and sent a message to 14 police officers in line for promotion to deputy chief inspector in all nine police regions, saying he could help them.
In the message, he told them to call a close aide of national police chief Pol Gen Damrongsak Kittiprapas at number 081-4878957. On receiving the calls he claimed to be Pol Col Pornchai. He told each of them to send him 300,000 baht, and their biographies and police service records, online.
None of the 14 police officers who received Mr Kanpol’s message believed him. They filed complaints at police stations. A subsequent police investigation led to Mr Kanpol’s arrest in Chiang Mai.
