No bulletproof vest was cut open to show plywood inside: Thai police

The Royal Thai Police (RTP) proved on Wednesday that the bulletproof vest purportedly cut open to show its insides were made of plywood is intact and still effective despite passing its expiration date.

The RTP called a press conference at its headquarters to address rumours of corruption as suggested in a viral Facebook post. The post, accompanied by photographs, claimed the Police Ordnance Division had siphoned funds allocated to purchase bulletproof vests by buying poor-quality versions made of plywood.

The RTP and ordnance division responded by insisting that the bulletproof vests had been bought transparently and in line with safety standards set by the US National Institute of Justice. They also said that the photo displaying a vest cut open to show plywood inside did not come from the lot bought by the police.

The press conference was led by the RTP’s team of spokespersons, chief of the ordnance division Pol Maj-General Nirundorn Sirisangchai, his deputy Pol Colonel Virayut Hiran, and Pol Lt-General Trairong Phiewphan, chief of RTP’s Forensic Science Office.

On Saturday, the Sawan Dan Din police station in Sakon Nakhon said that the post had gone viral after being shared by its officer, Pol Sargeant Chutchon Sriphet, who later admitted that he shared the photos without verifying them first. He was reprimanded for this behaviour.

The widely-shared post showed an intact bulletproof vest marked “Advanced Armour” with serial number 8A154338 and an accompanying picture of the vest supposedly cut open and showing plywood inside.

Virayut said the serial number did belong to one of the 650 vests bought in April 2010, but it was intact and had not been cut open to show plywood inside as indicated by the post.

He held up the vest in question to prove to reporters that it was intact and not tampered with. An officer then tried to cut open the vest with a saw but failed, as the layers of fabric inside were made of special polyethylene and polystyrene material that was too strong to be cut.

Virayut said the 650 vests had been bought at 34,000 baht each, and were tested in advance to see if they can sustain shots from M16 and sniper rifles.

The ordnance police chief Nirundorn added that the 650 vests had passed their 2016 expiration date, and would be disposed of later in line with police regulations.

Trairong added that the police do not know where the photo of the cut-open vest came from or if it was fabricated because it was tightly cropped and showed very little for identification. He said his office was sent one vest from the same lot of 650, and upon checking it was found that it comprised more than 100 layers of special fabric.

He said this fabric absorbed the impact from bullets and dissipated it so no bullets could pierce through. Trairong said his office had fired nine shots at three vests, including the one with serial number 8A154338, and found that not a single bullet had pierced through. The vests were shot with a 9mm pistol, a .357 revolver and a 45mm pistol.

Police also played a clip of the test firing for the reporters, who then said they wanted the vest under question to be tested in front of them. So, they were led to a lab and a policeman fired eight shots each with three pistols and the vest was not once pierced.