Songkhla district chief denies volunteers’ claim of robbery
Thepha chief refuted volunteers’ claims, saying the villagers only asked for their share of the relief bags loudly, and did not steal them
The chief of Songkhla’s Thepha district issued a statement on Tuesday to deny allegations that villagers from the Tha Muang subdistrict had robbed volunteers delivering relief bags to flood victims.
Traisulee Taisaranakul, the Interior Ministry spokesperson, said a social media post claiming that a group of 20 men had robbed a team of rescue volunteers in Thepha district was incorrect.
She quoted district chief Ekkachai Kaewrattana as saying that the villagers had only come out to ask for some necessities from the team and did not rob them.
He was quoted as saying that southerners normally speak very loudly and that may have scared the volunteers into thinking that they were being robbed.
A Songkhla social media influencer had reportedly sent out a call for people to help flood victims in the district, and Nakhon Si Thammarat’s Pracha Ruamjai Foundation responded by sending out a team of volunteers.
Ekkachai said that when volunteers arrived at the stie, some villagers spotted them and went up to ask for relief items.
Traisulee, meanwhile, said that the district chief had personally spoken to the person who posted the Facebook comment claiming the relief bags had been stolen, and the post has since been deleted.
She said the district chief was coordinating with the influencer and the foundation to explain what exactly happened in a social media post so the public would have the correct information.
On Monday, a volunteer was quoted by Channel 7 as saying that a team of 30 had travelled to the district in a convoy of seven trucks on Sunday. When the team arrived at the Tha Muang railway track, the volunteers shifted to boats to ferry necessities to villagers on the other side of the submerged track.
Then, the volunteer said, a group of 20 men appeared and surrounded them, demanding the items. They refused to listen to the volunteers when they were told the relief items were meant for people living in the heavily flooded village on the other side of the track.
Channel 7 then quoted the volunteer as saying that more people came out and helped themselves to all the items. The volunteer also said that some villagers warned the team to beware as the area was unsafe after dark.
