BURIRAM, Thailand — Prime Minister and Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul made an unannounced visit to a joint police-administration checkpoint in Buriram on Sunday, checking on intensified searches for firearms and illegal drugs. Anutin stopped at the checkpoint in front of Ban Dan Police Station in Ban Dan district at around 11 a.m. during a personal inspection trip to the province. Police and administrative officials were conducting vehicle searches under the government’s policy to establish district-level checkpoints targeting firearms and drugs.
In a move highlighting the government’s insistence that everyone be treated equally, officials asked to search the prime minister’s vehicle, checking both the front and rear of the vehicle. After the inspection, Anutin asked officers, “Did you find anything?” Police replied that they had found nothing in his vehicle. The prime minister then clarified whether he meant what officers had been finding at checkpoints across the area. The response was blunt: “We only found drugs.”
The intensified checks form part of the government’s effort to prevent firearms and illegal drugs from reaching communities, following several high-profile violent incidents in Thailand. Anutin has previously ordered the suspension of licenses for purchasing and possessing firearms until the Cabinet decides otherwise. The Department of Provincial Administration was also instructed to stop the practice of awarding firearms to village and sub-district officials. The measures are intended to restrict access to firearms and tackle potential sources of violence before they escalate, with public safety remaining the government’s stated priority.
