Fake news alert! Thai police bulletproof vests ‘not made of plywood’

The Police Ordnance Division has dismissed rumours that it bought bulletproof vests made of plywood to siphon funds as widely claimed by Thai social media networkers. 

In a statement on Sunday, the division said no plywood vests had been bought, adding that the procurement was done transparently. It also said that all bulletproof vests bought matched the standards set by the US National Institute of Justice. 

The division added that all police units have the right to check the quality of the vests if they are worried about their effectiveness. 

The division issued the statement shortly after Facebook page, “Yak Dung Diew Jud Hai Return Part 6” (“if you want to be famous, we can arrange it”) reposted photographs and quotes from a Sakon Nakhon police officer’s page.

The police officer from Sawang Dan Din Police Station had posted the photo of a Royal Thai Police vest marked “Advanced Armour” as a hard ballistic plate type. This photo was accompanied by another picture showing a cut-out of the vest with plywood inside. 

While sharing these photos, the page alleged there was clearly corruption in the procurement of these vests. However, it had clearly failed to check an announcement made by the Sawan Dan Din Police Station a day earlier. 

It had announced on Saturday that the photos of the plywood bulletproof vests shared by Pol Sargeant Chutchon Sriphet were fake. 

The station said Chutchon had been summoned to explain himself and he claimed he had simply shared photos that had been forwarded several times without knowledge of original sources. 

The station added that these photographs were not of bulletproof vests used at the station. It also said that the officer has been severely reprimanded and told to explain himself to the public. 

Also on Saturday, Chutchon posted an apology on Facebook, saying he was sorry he shared forwarded photos without verifying them first.