A soldier in the Royal Thai Armed Forces faces 21 days of detention alongside other punitive measures after a video of him threatening a driver with a gun surfaced online. The video, which quickly spread after being posted on a Facebook page, captures the moment the soldier brandished his weapon at another motorist for overtaking him on an expressway.
Gen Songwit Noonpackdee, Chief of Defence Forces, ordered the soldier’s detention on Saturday (Mar 17) and the establishment of a committee to investigate the matter. According to Armed Forces spokesperson Lt Gen Teerapong Pattamasingh Na Ayuthaya, the soldier in question has breached multiple military protocols, including disobedience, lack of courtesy, verbal aggression, intimidation, and tarnishing the military’s reputation.
The disciplinary actions set against the soldier include a 21-day jail term, suspension of pension contributions for the current fiscal year, a 15-day disciplinary training program, and a ban on weapon possession.
Lt Gen Teerapong stressed the armed forces’ commitment to addressing the issue with urgency and fairness, noting that a directive has been issued to all commanders to rigorously monitor their personnel’s conduct and discipline to avert similar incidents in the future. (NNT)
