Royal Thai Police commissioner Pol. Gen. Somyot Poompanmuang gave a THB3 million cash reward this morning to the police investigation team whose work led to the arrest of the Bangkok bombing suspect on Saturday, DailyNews reported.

Pol. Gen. Somyot lauded the investigation team for their hard work by offering them three fat stacks of cash worth THB1 million each, which sat in front of him at the podium.

We thought the reward was supposed to be for those who give information leading to the arrest, not for the officers who were ostensibly just doing their job. But we will refrain from commenting further on that.

Neither do we have any comment on whether giving cash rewards to police in cases like this might incentivize false arrests.

The reward for anyone with information about the Ratchaprasong bomber had initially been set by police at THB1 million and was later increased up THB3 million by Somwang Asrasi, a red-shirt leader and the former secretary to Deputy Commerce Ministry.

For his part, Somyot said that THB1 million of the reward is coming from his own money and the rest is coming from “friends”, ThaiPBS reported.

In summary, it’s totally unclear where the money for the reward came from.

It’s also unclear whether the landlady who allegedly tipped police to the suspect’s location in her apartment building will share any part of the reward, the Nation reported.

Photo: Thai PBS

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