Thai authorities turned themselves in for questioning after a video surfaced that showed a drug suspect being tortured to death.
The two police officers were suspected of being involved in the brutal incident and willingly submitted themselves on Thursday. The case is expected to test the resolve of the judicial system in the country.
Thai Police's Brutal Murder
Sittra Biabungkerd, a lawyer, was the one who uploaded the video on his Facebook page, showing the world how a man was suffocated with a plastic bag over his head. Four men could be seen pinning the suspect down while the incident took place.
Authorities arrested five police officers from Nakhon Sawan province in relation to the incident, deputy police spokeswoman Kissana Phathanacharoen said. In a statement, she said that a "round the clock" hunt was on to search for two other potential suspects who later turned themselves in for questioning.
It was revealed in an official police document that the suspect died of a drug overdose on Aug. 5, nearly a month before the video was uploaded and gone viral on Tuesday. A lower-ranking officer allegedly sent the video to Sittra, who runs a legal aid foundation, and asked him to pass it to the national police chief. The officer claimed the video showed "Superintendent Joe" from Nakhon Sawan police station attempting to extort money from the drug dealer, CNN reported.
The police superintendent, Thitisan Utthanaphon, commonly known by his nickname "Jo Ferrari", had his house in Bangkok searched by police. Authorities discovered 13 luxury cars at the official's property.
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The video footage also showed the police officers demanding the suspect to pay $60,000 so that they would drop charges against him. The day before the raid, 39-year-old Thitisan was fired from his position in Nakhon Sawan after the video became public, BBC reported.
Brutal Crime
The recording also showed the officers trying to resuscitate the suspect after the incident but was later pronounced dead due to suffocation. The officer allegedly told the other law enforcement personnel to list down the cause of death as a drug overdose.
The suspect, identified as 24-year-old Chiraphong Thanaphiphat, allegedly accepted an initial bribe of $30,000, as seen in the video. However, Thitisan later doubled his demand, ordering other officers to beat the man.
Online users expressed criticism of the police station and its personnel after the video went viral on social media. On Tuesday, Thailand's national police chief ordered all officers involved in the incident to be fired immediately.
The Royal Thai Police charged all involved officers of joint murder by torture, wrongly causing injury as officers, and coercing someone as a group of five or more, a spokesperson said. Two housekeepers at Thitisan's home said that the superintendent was mostly at the luxury home during the weekends and was frequently found at the Nakhon Sawan province.
Thailand's police force is ravaged by corruption, where officers are paid only an average of $5,400 annually. Previously, the country's chief ombudsman said that the region's police force was the most corrupt agency, citing thousands of complaints lodged to her office, Business Insider reported.
