Police and administrative officials in Buriram province ran a firearms and drugs checkpoint operation yesterday, August 16, that ended up screening Prime Minister and Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul himself.

The checkpoints were set up in Ban Dan Subdistrict, Ban Dan District, and several other areas of Buriram. The operation forms part of Anutin’s policy to tighten firearms control and limit their spread in society.

According to Khaosod, Anutin was in Buriram province for official duties when officers searched him, as they would any other member of the public passing through.

The prime minister asked the officer on duty whether the checkpoint had turned anything up. Told nothing had been found on him personally, Anutin pressed further, asking about the results from the checkpoints in the surrounding area more broadly. The officer said drugs were the only thing they had come across so far.

The Buriram operation follows a run of violent incidents that have unsettled Thai society in recent months. These include a school shooting allegedly carried out by a 14 year old, an incident in which the son of a prominent politician allegedly struck a fellow student with a gun, and the shooting of Pol Col Thongchai Yenprasert, a former president of the Nonthaburi Provincial Administrative Organisation, allegedly carried out by former politician Chalong Riawreng.

The government has said it wants to tackle firearm violence at its source, cutting off the routes through which guns end up in situations that lead to further harm.

Anutin has previously ordered a halt to new firearm purchase permits (Por.3) and possession permits (Por.4) until the Cabinet reviews the policy. He has also told the Department of Provincial Administration to stop giving firearms as rewards to subdistrict and village headmen.

Last week, Anutin had separately stated that shooting an intruder inside one’s own home would still amount to a criminal offence under current law, part of a wider set of restrictions his government is preparing that would require legally owned firearms to stay

Northern Thailand News