MPs suspect truck in Sukhumvit Road collapse had bribed cops

Concrete slabs covering the road at the entrance of Soi Sukhumvit 64/1 collapsed under the weight of the truck, which was transporting dirt from a construction site. Two motorbike riders crashed during the incident and needed hospital treatment for their injuries.

The slabs were placed over a section of the road where workers were laying underground power lines.

The truck was extricated six hours later by two cranes, leaving a 5-metre-long hole across three lanes.

Phra Khanong MP Piyarat Chongthep and fellow Move Forward lawmaker Wiroj Lakkhanaadisorn visited Phra Khanong police station on Wednesday evening and quizzed deputy traffic chief Pol Lt Col Prakorb Inkate about the incident.

They asked whether the truck’s dirt load had been removed during the salvage mission, pointing out that it was evidence that could show the truck was illegally overloaded.

Prakorb confirmed that the dirt’s removal was monitored by highway police to prevent efforts to conceal the weight of the load.

Wiroj insisted that the police report should include details of the load’s weight, where it was disposed, and the officials responsible.

The two MPs also asked the police to investigate whether the green-star sticker on the front of the truck was a sign indicating that it had paid a bribe to officials.

The sticker was the same as those used earlier this year in a long-running racket that allowed overloaded trucks to avoid police checks, Wiroj pointed out.

The MPs then called on Pol Maj Gen Jaroonkiat Pankaew, commander of the Counter Corruption Division, to check if the truck is linked to any known suspects in the sticker-racket investigation that he was leading.

Launched in June, Jaroonkiat’s crackdown on bribery stickers has seen over 40 highway police officers transferred to inactive posts.