POLICE SHOOTING ON HOUSE TO BE PROBED AS NO DRUGS FOUND

Owner Urged To File For Attempted Murder

The Royal Thai Police Office has set up a fact-finding committee to look
into why police opened fire on a house in Ayutthaya's Bang Sai district on
Wednesday.

Pol Gen Amnuay Phetsiri, deputy national police chief, said police thought
the house was a drug storage point, but found nothing.

A team of 50 Crime Suppression Division commandos, drugs and local police
raided a house in tambon Chiang Rak Noi in Bang Sai district about 3am.
Police say they forced their way in after the occupants refused them entry.
They claim people inside the house opened fire, prompting them to return fire.

However, the occupants claimed nobody inside the house opened fire. Only
Nissai Satakurama, 75, and his wife Udom, 65 were found in the house. Mr
Nissai suffered a cut from broken glass caused by the shooting.

Pol Gen Amnuay said police were right to open fire on the house, and denied
officers had overacted. Police would provide justice to the house owner and
pay him for the damage.

CSD commander Pol Maj-Gen Kosin Hinthao has also set up a committee to
investigate.

A source said many CSD police had criticised the work of a police team
which worked for Yongyut Tiyapairat, the prime minister's secretary-general.

The team had received information from a detective that a drugs gang kept
drugs at the house and delivered the drugs to a market in Pathum Thani. Mr
Yongyut's team asked the CSD to join the raid.

Sathit Pitutecha, deputy Democrat spokesman, said the House committee on
justice and human rights would be asked to look into the raid too.

He would meet the damaged parties on July 12 and ask them to file a
complaint against the police for attempted murder. The Democrat is also
secretary to the House panel.

Suriyasai Katasila, secretary-general of the Campaign for Popular
Democracy, said Mr Yongyut had interfered in the work of police for
political gain.

Mr Yongyut earlier said he went to the house to witness the search, after
getting word from police.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra denied the raid was based on complaints
to Ban Phitsanulok, the PM's official residence. He said Deputy Prime
Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh was looking into the raid.

Mr Yongyut was not wrong in going to the site as he simply witnessed the
raid, not ordered it. He would ask his secretary-general to avoid getting
involved in suppression operations as that was the job of police. Mr
Yongyut had a duty to pass complaints and information to relevant agencies.