The fall from grace of Thai super cop, Big Joke in the Daniel Sancho case

Controversial Thai police officer ‘Big Joke’ Daniel Sancho became the most mediative face of the case at its beginning, but since then, former deputy director of the Thai police A conspiracy with no Spanish connection has gained notoriety, in whose research he actually never directly participated.

As the case unfolded, Surachate Hakparn – the Thai island of Phangan and the Surat Thani province where the alleged murder was committed by Colombian surgeon Edwin Arrieta on August 2, 2023 – came under the media spotlight. Sancho, who is accused of that crime, will be sentenced next Thursday Samui Court, where he was tried between 9 April and 2 May.

Fond of exposing details that did not always agree with the reality of the investigation, Big Joke left memorable moments, such as his arrival by helicopter in Phangan on August 15 last year. for holding a chaotic press conference in which he said Arrieta had been stabbed to death and then recognized that the autopsy results were not known.

That same day, and on several occasions thereafter, he announced that the police investigation into the matter was complete, although this did not occur until weeks later.

After months of scandal over his alleged links to a bribery network and infighting at the highest levels within the police, Big Joke’s career He suffered a fatal blow with the announcement of his dismissal in mid-August.

The agent, who is famous for giving revealing statements to the media – who once admitted to paying reporters to cover his cases – maintains his innocence and has gone to court to clear his name, Amid an opaque power struggle within Thai police leadership.

The former senior police officer was named in February by the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB), one of the main departments of the Thai police. One in five agents suspected of being involved in bribery By the online betting portal BNK Master, which was shut down last year.

Image of the officer In my underwear at the door of my house in Bangkok When the police searched the house, it spread like wildfire in the media last September, at a time when the race to nominate the deputy director as director of the National Police was underway.

As a result of the case, which is still under investigation, on 18 April, while the trial against Sancho is ongoing in parallel on the island of Samui, Big Joke was ordered temporarily removed from the force, Who was one of the six deputy directors of the National Police.

The alleged corruption is unrelated to the investigation into Sancho’s alleged premeditated murder of Arrieta, a case that disappeared from Thai media weeks after the news broke.

Surachate continued to fight and went to the Supreme Court to challenge his dismissal. This would not be the first time that the Big Joke figure has been reborn from his ashes, He was removed from the force in 2019 without any explanation And returned after two years, that too without any apparent reason.

While in 2020, a gunman fired eight shots at Surachate’s parked car while he was at a business meeting in a Bangkok shopping district, a case that has never been solved.