EVIDENCE PUTS NEW SPIN ON BOY'S DEATH

The controversy over the death of a nine-year-old boy killed in the war on
drugs took yet another twist yesterday after forensic evidence appeared to
clear three policemen of the killing.

Scientific Crime Detection Division (SCDD) commander Pol Maj-General Chuan
Worawanit said that the guns and bullets examined were not those used by
the three police in the chase of drug suspect Pornwipa Kerdrungruang.

Two bullets killed nine-year-old Chakraphan Srisa-ard, who was in the back
seat of the getaway car driven by his mother Pornwipa on the night of 23
February in central Bangkok.

Police officers initially said that they had fired on the car on Lan Luang
Road and stray bullets had killed the child, but the investigating officers
later said that police did not fire at the car.

Chuan said Nang Lerng police combed the getaway car to trace the bullets
and study the bullet holes. Traces of gunpowder on the hands of the
officers, their .38 revolvers and another found in the car, bullets and
spent cartridges, including three .38 cartridges (one found in the boy's
body and two in the car) were examined.

"The three bullets found in the car did not match the four guns turned in
for detection," he said.

Police also found one bullet hole shot from inside the car but could not
find the cartridge.

National Police Commission spokesman Maj-General Pongsapat Pongcharoen said
that police would continue to search for the gun that killed the boy.

Chuan and Pongsapat were evasive when asked why police had not submitted
for testing the bullet that was fired through the boy's body. They told
reporters to ask the deputy metropolitan police chief, Maj-General Jakthip
Kunchorn na Ayutthaya.

The three officers at the centre of the controversy are Sergeant Major
Pipat Sang-in, Lance Corporal Anusorn Tansuwan and Corporal Panumas Chanacham.

Jakthip said yesterday the results showed that either police did not fire
at the car as they earlier stated, or the three police used different guns
than those handed in to the SCDD. "Investigators will try to determine
which guns the three officers normally carried and if they were the ones
submitted to the SCDD," he said.

However police have not withdrawn conspiracy to murder charges against the
three officers and are looking for further evidence and witnesses.

"If anyone knows who shot at the car, please come forward to identify the
gunman. The three police will be in the line up," Jakthip said.

Investigating police earlier claimed a "third party" was involved in the
shooting and could have been responsible for the boy's death.

They floated the theory that a man on a motorcycle from the same drug ring
fired at the car and killed the boy. They said that when the officers heard
the gunfire, they threw themselves on the ground and only fired shots in
the air to frighten the criminals.