About 300 police officers, troops and local officials were deployed to Hat Yai’s Zone 8 yesterday, to maintain peace and to end widespread looting since the floodwaters began to recede, including the thefts from four cargo containers stranded at Hat Yai railway station.
Pol Lt-Gen Piyawat Chalermsri, commissioner of Region 9 Provincial Police Bureau, said that, even though floodwater has receded in many parts of Hat Yai, many people, particularly in Zone 8, are facing the new problem of looting.
Some emergency response volunteers were shot at by unidentified gunmen during the week, when they tried to enter the zone on their jet-skis to distribute food and evacuate vulnerable people.
Piyawat said that the force will remain in Zone 8 for 15 days, will patrol the streets on foot and set up roadblocks to check suspicious-looking individuals, to ensure that innocent people are safe.
Meanwhile, it is reported today that six alleged looters were apprehended on Thursday with 65 cases of beer from one of the cargo containers at the railway station.
Looters were seen carrying cases of beer from the containers and loading them onto their pickup trucks. Others were seen carrying looted cartons of beer on their backs in broad daylight.
The six alleged looters have been detained on theft charges.
