Police shooter in NE massacre was addicted to drugs since high school - got drugs from another ex-cop. ASEAN NOW

Picture: INN

 

INN reported on the history of Pol Sgt Panya Khamrab who yesterday killed 38 people including himself in the NE of Thailand. 

 

He was a drug addict since high school, boasted of having 100 yaba pills, threatened people with guns and refused to do his job. 

 

He repeatedly annoyed colleagues and the public with belligerent behavior including shooting while drunk and shooting a dog dead.

 

He said he got yaba from an ex-cop who had also been sacked from the RTP. 

 

The media said that Panya became a policeman inn Yannawa, Bangkok, in November 2012 and in June 2019 moved to Na Wang police station in the area of yesterday's shooting and stabbing rampage.

 

When assigned to Na Wang his partner did not come with him. He became thin from repeated drug use.

 

He had a quick temper and was avoided by colleagues. He did not follow the orders of his station chief.

 

In one incident he was ordered to go and protect a branch of the Ormsin Bank but he fell asleep in his vehicle outside the bank instead.

 

When asked by the manager to move because there was an ATM cash delivery he refused and went for his gun to threaten the manager.

 

The manager reported this to his station chief.

 

He then formed a relationship with a karaoke girl called Ying. The bar was closed due to the pandemic.

 

Ying was the girlfriend of a drug suspect who was jailed in Bua Lamphu prison.

 

Panya frequently had loud drinking parties at his police accommodation that annoyed colleagues and the public alike.

 

He would discharge his weapon when drunk and once shot a dog owned by a member of the public. 

 

The police managed to keep this quiet so that Panya was not prosecuted.

 

In July 2021 he was found to be drunk at the police station and was the subject of action by the station chief for foul language and assault of colleagues. 

 

The current Na Wang chief Pol Col Suwatchai Malithong said that Panya had admitted to drugs use since he was in high school. He had promised to quit and his gun was taken from him.

 

But despite attempts to get him into a police rehab program he continued with drug taking.

 

When Nong Bua Lamphu police got involved in January of this year he reportedly said "I've taken yaba for ages - no one cared when I had 100 pills".

 

He said he got the drugs from a former cop who had been sacked from the force.

 

After this things improved but then yesterday's incident occurred.