If They Don't Work, Then Why Did We Buy So Many? Friday, January 29, 2010 12:00 AM        Some how, some way, I hope the British authorities made a mistake, because for some reason, many of our forces have bought a bunch of these devices to weed out bombs and narcotics in our country! Just how many am I talking about? Let's break it down. We were properly introduced to this device in 2004, when the Army's Explosive Ordinance Disposal unit under the Ordinance Deparment brought 200 of these babies to the jungles of Thailand. To refresh your memory, General Sonthi Boonyarat-glin was the Army Chief at the time. It didn't seem like there was any problem with the GT200 then, as a year later another batch was ordered through the Prime Minister's Office Minister in 2005, and again in 2007 through Internal Security Operations Command. Since then, the many GT200s have been allocated for use in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Army Divisions, assisting missions in the violent South. The bottom line is there are about 1,000 of these GT200-Alpha 6 detectors. Let's break down who has how many. The Army bought 800 at a price of 1.4 million baht each. A total of 535 are being used in Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat, and four districts in Songkla provices. The Air Force bought nine of them in 2004 at 1.2 million baht each along with 18 cards which is used to determine what the device detects. Later in 2008, the Air Force bought 17 more empty machines (without the cards) for 700,000 to 800,000 baht each. The Navy bought ten of them for 1.4 million baht. The National Police Office bought 20 of them for 900,000 baht to 1.6 million baht each to be used in the three southern border provinces. The Narcotics Suppression Bureau bought five of them for 1.2 million baht each. The Drug Enforcement Administration bought ten at 1.5 million baht each. The Central Institute of Forensic Science bought six of them at 1.1 million each, buying one or two each year from 2007 to 2009. Assistant Professor Dr. Jetsada Denduangboripan of the Science Faculty of Chulalongkorn University made one himself for 159 baht (funny, but true). Apart from the GT200, a similar device called the Alpha 6 was also bought. The Drug Enforcement Administration bought 15 of them at 400,000 baht each to detect narcotics. The Interior Ministry bought 476 of them at 720,000 baht each. So as you can see, everybody's using them! These things must be working, right? Wrong. There must be scientific or at least logical evidence to support claims of this device's practical efficiency. There is no use in yapping back and forth, while no evidence is presented to support the arguments. Army Chief General Anupong Paochinda is right. There must be proof, and it doesn't matter if it's scientific or pratical proof, but it must be credible. If it works, we'll use it; If it doesn't, we won't. One thing is for sure though. No one should be buying anymore of these things, at least not until the facts are presented to support or oppose the findings of British authorities. In the meantime, if Thai authorities want to use the ones that have already been bought, let them use them. If they work once in awhile, it's better than having nothing. And if it turns out to be true that they don't work, well then, they were a lot of fun to play with for a billion baht! *estimating that around 1,000 were bought at an average price of 1 million a piece. From Kom Chad Luek Newspaper; pg.3 Friday January 29th, 2010 by National Security News Team, Kom Chad Luek Newspaper Translated and Rewritten for Clarity by Patcharapol Jitramontree patcharapol@tannetwork.tv From http://tannetwork.tv/toc/ViewData.aspx?DataID=1024299 Wednesday, September 08, 2010 1:12 AM http://www.thailandoutlook.tv/