Sunthorn Prasertsawat, a patrol officer with the Chum Phae district station, was caught with 1,096 methamphetamine pills and four grammes of crystal methamphetamine while he was planning to sell them. Police were tipped off that the officer had arranged a meeting to sell the drugs near the Cheewin Palace Hotel in Chum Phae, and made the arrest when the man arrived in his car, said Pol Col Jeerawat Kongkraphun, chief of the district station. Police were alerted after local residents complained to them that Pol Sen Sgt Maj Sunthorn had extorted illegal drugs, money and possessions from the people he arrested. Sunthorn confessed that the drugs in his possession were all from local arrests. He planned to sell them to teenagers to pay off his debts.