Source: Bangkok Post Contact: Mon, 5 Jan 1998 Author: Wassayos Ngarmkham http://www.bangkokpost.com DRUG-INFESTED COMMUNITY Bang Kapi folk live in fear Police doing little to take on dealers Drug problems have long haunted a riverside community in Bang Kapi district where people live in fear and police have done little to take on the dealers. Few people mill about near Wat Khlang (Chanwongsaram Temple) community pier in Soi Lat Phrao 132 and the nearby toilet behind the temple between dusk and dawn because it is the hangout for several teenage drug addicts. Many syringes can be seen on the temple floor and on the roof. Noppadol Ruampol, an ex-monk from Wat Khlang, said dozens of teenagers gathered at the temple to use drugs, ranging from solvents and marijuana to amphetamines and heroin, from 7 p.m. each night. However, monks and villagers did nothing for fear that they would be hurt. He said teenagers bought drugs from dealers living in the slum at Soi Lat Phrao 134, known as a "no-go" area to outsiders. The Wat Khlang community and the slum are separated from each other by Khaisri Pramote Anusorn primary school and linked with a concrete path running along Saen Saeb Canal. Deputy abbot of Wat Khlang Phra Maha Somboon Chanthaso said he told drug addicts to leave the temple area whenever he saw them and he frequently warned temple boys not to take drugs. Nanthaporn Nilpanich, headmaster of Khaisri Pramote Anusorn School, said the school often told students to avoid getting involved with those from the nearby slum and they did not. None of the students were addicts. However, the school had fenced off its land closest to the slum with a higher fence. Wanchai Sriwichai, 30, from the Wat Khlang community, admitted he had once been caught taking amphetamines by Lat Phrao police. He had bought the drug from a major dealer from nearby Bang E slum. Penkhae Rungsoi, owner of a grocery at Wat Khlang, said strangers frequently extorted money from youngsters who caught boats at Wat Khlang pier. Rung Ruampol, a 20-year-old temple boy and Ramkhamhaeng University student, said a donation box at the temple had been broken open and 500 baht taken by someone last month. He believes the thief was a drug addict. People in torn clothes frequently asked for items donated to the temple but were later seen exchanging them for drugs at night in the temple compound, he said. Krissana Boonma, a student of Ban Bang Kapi School, who used Wat Khlang pier every nihgt, said she often found many teenagers sitting in a group at the temple. She was afraid that they might be drug addicts. Malinee Boonma, 17, said she was very careful every time she used the pier and tried to stay away from those she suspected of being drug addicts. According to Wat Khlang community leader, Staff Sergeant Surapol Samleethong, drugs were widely available in the community because Lat Phrao police did little to take on the dealers and wrongly arrested innocent people. He claimed a police sergeant with the Lat Phrao police station's patrol team arrested a boy on a charge of possessing amphetamines and asked the boy's parents to pay 18,000 baht to get him released. In November, the same thing happened with another boy who was released for 4,000 baht payment. Many villagers saw the police officer drop amphetamine pills on the ground before arresting the boy, said Sgt Surapol. Lat Phrao police investigator chief Pol Lt-Col Udon Buapia said officers knew that drugs were widely available in Wat Khlang community and that the source was the nearby slum. However, they could not arrest the dealers red-handed due to a lack of cooperation from those living in the community. It was also a difficult place to make raids. However, a planned crackdown was due to start at the end of last year and the Narcotics Suppression Bureau had been asked to help with manpower and drug testing equipment.