Investigation ordered into police escorting luxury car convoy

The chief of the Central Investigation Bureau has ordered a probe into highway police blocking normal traffic to facilitate the travel of a billion-baht convoy of luxury cars along an inter-city motorway.
Pol Lt Gen Jirabhop Bhuridej said on Monday that he ordered Highway Police to investigate complaints from motorists that police on motorcycles cleared the way for a fleet of luxury cars on the M6 motorway from Ayutthaya to Nakhon Ratchasima on Saturday.
The officers concerned would face action if they did wrong, the commissioner said.
It was reported that the convoy of luxury cars was travelling to Nakhon Ratchasima to be among the highlights at a vegetarian and cultural event there.
A source said that highway police escorted the convoy without informing their superiors beforehand.
In Nakhon Ratchasima on Saturday evening, 45 luxury cars worth about 1.5 billion baht were put on display at the vegetarian fair at the Thao Suranari Monument in Muang district. The fair opened on Friday and ended on Sunday night.
Pol Maj Kla Sombatpiboon, chief of Highway Police Station 1 in Nakhon Pathom, which is under the Highway Police’s Sub-Division 2, said on Monday that the two officers, a police sub-lieutenant and a police sergeant major, had admitted to the misconduct, which resulted in their suspension from duty during an internal investigation.
Pol Maj Kla admitted that he, too, was outraged that these two officers had been moonlighting in Nakhon Ratchasima while their colleagues were deployed on traffic duty on Rama 2 Road, which was partially flooded during the day.
Photos of them leading the motorcade to Nakhon Ratchasima were posted on the popular Yak Dang Chat Hai Return Part 6 Facebook page, with many users blaming the motorcade for the snarl-up on the M6 motorway.
This sparked online outrage over the officers’ role in the motorcade.