No Stone Left Unturned – Pressure Mounts on Police to Identify Masterminds Behind MP Shooting Case

The armed attack on Kamlasak Leewamoh, Narathiwat MP from the Pheu Chart party, continues to draw intense scrutiny on how the Royal Thai Police will investigate whether this case leads to identifying those who masterminded the assassination attempt. All five gunmen have been arrested, and it's abundantly clear that the government vehicle from the Office of the Permanent Secretary for Defense used in the attack was checked out by a naval officer. Yet police remained silent until the victim, MP Kamlasak, was forced to submit evidence that his party team had gathered to file charges himself against a rear admiral from the Office of the Permanent Secretary for Defense who provided the vehicle to the gunmen, and a naval lieutenant affiliated with the Royal Thai Navy who is implicated in the evidence. This brought two military officers into the legal proceedings. Public attention is intensely focused on whether the M16 assault that was unleashed on an MP using an Office of the Permanent Secretary for Defense vehicle was purely an internal operation among the shooting team alone. That's clearly impossible. Someone higher up the chain than the gunmen must be responsible. Police must thoroughly examine whether the evidence clearly links to the officers involved and carries sufficient weight. Yet from the public's perspective, it's already evident that a government vehicle was requisitioned for the gunmen, and there's even evidence of vehicle tampering. This means police work is under intense public scrutiny. If the investigation doesn't progress further, public confidence will erode and credibility will be lost, especially among those in the southern border region who view this incident as reinforcing a pattern of violence in the area. There are covert operations—ambushes and assassinations—that aren't just the work of a single terrorist faction. Military leaders' statements about IO operations targeting certain groups, attacking media, religious schools, and politicians reflect an extreme military-led state policy approach. This incident will only intensify the atmosphere of suspicion and tension. Furthermore, the Pheu Chart party's case investigation team is led by Police Colonel Tawee Sodsong, the party chairman and a former investigator of major cases. They're pursuing investigative leads that are far from ordinary. The police investigation team clearly won't simply drop this matter.