Police Major General Sarawut Khonlai, Commander of Immigration Division 5, has ordered the formation of a fact-finding committee to investigate the failure of detention staff at Tak Immigration to prevent the escape of a 'Burmese murder-rape suspect.' He stressed that no disciplinary or criminal action will be exempted and instructed coordination with Myanmar authorities to urgently track down and repatriate the suspect for prosecution in Thailand as soon as possible.
This follows a social media report on 3 Jan 2026 where a young woman appealed for justice, alleging that her mother was fatally assaulted by a Burmese employee on 11 Nov 2025. The suspect was sent to Tak Immigration and subsequently deported back to Myanmar, even though the foreigner was still undergoing legal proceedings.
Regarding this case, on 3 Jan 2026, Police Colonel Sarawut Wathe, Deputy Commander of Immigration Division 5 and spokesperson, disclosed that Police Major General Sarawut Khonlai had received the initial report and ordered the Tak Immigration Chief to investigate the facts.
The investigation found that before the incident, on 15 Nov 2025, Phawo Police Station in Tak province sent Ton Ta Ong, a Myanmar national, to Tak Immigration for deportation. On the same day, a letter requesting a postponement of deportation was submitted because he was a suspect in a homicide case. However, at that time, the investigator had not issued an arrest warrant as DNA test results were still pending.
On 18 Dec 2025, the investigator at Phawo Police Station requested an arrest warrant for Ton Ta Ong for homicide and submitted the warrant and related documents to take the suspect into custody for prosecution. It was later discovered that the foreigner had already been deported on 16 Nov 2025. Tak Immigration officers had deported 50 Myanmar nationals, including Ton Ta Ong. The deportation staff confirmed they had not received any notification to delay the deportation.
Upon learning of this, the Immigration Division 5 Commander ordered an investigative committee to examine the detention staff at Tak Immigration responsible for receiving the suspect. At this stage, the error was evident, and further fact-finding is underway to determine if the failure was intentional or negligent, to support disciplinary and criminal proceedings against those involved to the fullest extent.
Regarding the suspect who was deported to Myanmar, the Immigration Division 5 Commander has dispatched an investigative team to coordinate with Myanmar authorities to track down and repatriate him for prosecution in Thailand as soon as possible. He also instructed all subordinate unit heads that if detainees suspected of criminal offenses have requests to delay deportation communicated to immigration units, officers must report immediately to their superiors to prevent further errors or harm.
