Pubdate: Thu, 20 Feb 2003
Source: Straits Times (Singapore)
Copyright: 2003 Singapore Press Holdings Ltd.
Contact:  http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/429

KILLINGS: POLICE 'TAMPERING WITH EVIDENCE'

BANGKOK - As the body count in the drug war rises, Thailand's leading 
forensics specialist said yesterday she is convinced that police are 
tampering with evidence to cover their own tracks.

The three-month crackdown, launched on Feb 1, aims to wipe out Thailand's 
vast illicit drug trade. Official figures, released on Monday, place the 
death toll at 326.

But Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand, deputy director of the Central Institute of 
Forensic Science, said that in most cases, methamphetamine tablets are 
found in the victims' pockets - a sign that someone has tampered with the 
crime scene.

Dr Pornthip said the drugs are placed in the pockets to make the killings 
look like an internal conflict but that, in reality, gangs would not leave 
drugs as evidence.

'We don't believe that the people behind the killings are those who wanted 
to silence their accomplices. We can only say that it was the police who 
arranged the murders,' she said. --AP
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom