Police General Samran Nualma will become one of the youngest police chiefs in Thailand’s history when he takes up the post on October 1.
Samran, who turned 53 in June, has seven years ahead of him before he reaches mandatory retirement age in 2033.
The Police Commission, chaired by Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, on July 22 unanimously appointed Samran as the next commissioner-general of the Royal Thai Police, replacing Pol Gen Kitrat Phanphet, who will retire at the end of September. The appointment received royal endorsement two days later.
Among the four deputy police chiefs vying for the top post, Samran ranked third in seniority by years of service. As ex officio board members, he and the three other candidates were required to leave the meeting room before the Police Commission voted. The 12 remaining commissioners all voted for Samran.
A former temple boy
Born on June 14, 1973, into a family of vendors in Phetchaburi province, Samran spent his childhood as a temple boy at a local Buddhist monastery near his home. His primary education was sponsored by the temple’s abbot in exchange for small duties such as cleaning floors and sweeping leaves.
His ambition to become a police officer was reportedly sparked by witnessing his father being bullied by local gangsters.
Samran is credited with helping resolve numerous serious incidents during his three decades in the police force.
In 2020, during an 18-hour standoff following a mass shooting at a shopping mall in Nakhon Ratchasima, he led a team of Arintaraj 26 special ops officers tasked with protecting civilians and neutralising the perpetrator. The gunman was shot dead after claiming 29 lives in what was the deadliest mass shooting in Thailand’s history.
The following year, while serving as Bangkok’s police chief, Samran helped defuse anti-government protests through an undercover operation that nabbed individuals terrorising Din Daeng residents with small-explosive attacks.
In a 2021 interview, Samran said the police had a duty to preserve public order but acknowledged this could be a difficult task when society was gripped by bitter political division.
“People can have different political opinions, but it is illegal to use violence. If protests get violent, police have a duty to control the crowd,” he said. “We have to protect people’s safety and property while maintaining public order.”
Three decades in the force
Samran graduated from the Armed Forces Academies Preparatory School and Police Cadet Academy. He went on to earn a master’s degree in administration and law and a doctorate in political science from Ramkhamhaeng University.
Samran began his police career at age 24 in 1997 as an investigating officer at Bangkok’s Phra Khanong police station.
He spent the next three decades steadily climbing the ranks at Bangkok police stations. He was appointed as deputy inspector of investigation at Thong Lor police station in 2003 before being promoted to inspector for crime prevention and suppression at Bang Na police station four years later. He became superintendent of Don Mueang police station in 2012.
Samran later shifted to the Patrol and Special Operations Division, aka the 191 Police. He joined the division as a superintendent in 2014, rising to its commander four years later.
He was appointed deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Bureau in 2020 before becoming commissioner a year later at the age of 48 – one of the youngest in the bureau’s history.
In 2022, Samran assumed the post of assistant commissioner-general of the Royal Thai Police before stepping up to deputy national police chief last October.
Last year, he played a key role in police operations to locate and dispose of 16 improvised explosive devices planted in Phuket, Phang-nga and Krabi – three major tourist destinations in the South.
He recently led Operation Dragon Scale Removal, targeting a transnational birth-fraud network that was offering Thai nationality for the newborns of Chinese parents by paying Thai men to register as their fathers.
