SPECIAL REPORT: Police entrance exam-takers hid receivers in their nether regions to escape detection
The discovery of a police-recruitment exam cheating scam on Sunday has shined the light on how a gang assisted its customers to pass the test.
On Sunday when the exam was held nationwide, 11 applicants who could not hide their anxiety were caught and confessed to having hidden short-wave radio signal receivers in the most private parts of their bodies.
The 11 suspects were caught at testing sites in areas under the jurisdiction of the Provincial Police Region 3. To avoid being caught during searches before entering the examination room, men hid the receiver in their anuses or near their testicles, while women put it in their vaginas.
Staff at one centre were alerted to the cheating when they found one of the receivers during a search of a latecomer to the test.
The receivers were modified to receive vibrating signals from the gang which dictated to them the correct answers for the multiple choice tests.
Other testing sites were alerted to the discovery and 23 more applicants were detained after being found with similar radio receiver devices.
That led to a search of a hotel where the applicants who were arrested said they were staying along with some people who orchestrated the scam.
At the hotel, five suspects, including a woman whose husband is a police officer in Si Sa Ket, were arrested and radio signal transmitters seized.
The husband was then arrested in Si Sa Ket and police seized 10.5 million baht in cash along with a copy of a contract indicating that he had been hired to organise the exam fraud.
Arrest warrants were subsequently sent out for two more suspects in Lampang who were said to be the bosses of the gang.
"I believe some insiders must have colluded with the gang. There were up to eight different test papers used in the exam and it was impossible that the tests were leaked without the insiders' help," said Provincial Police Region 3 chief Phanu Kerdlarppol.
Tueanjai Pongpan, 45, one of the five suspects arrested at the hotel, allegedly told police the eight versions of the test were bought for 3 million baht each a few hours before the exam began because the real tests were only printed that very morning to prevent a possible leak.
After that, a team worked on the tests before sending out radio signals to the receivers.
Students were told to check the number of vowels and intonation marks in the first question of their tests to determine which tests they had received. The organisers sent vibrating signals to confirm if they were correct. All eight tests contained the same questions but in different orders.
Pol Lt-Gen Phanu said police were looking into how the gang sent their answers to applicants holding different papers.
The discovery of a police-recruitment exam cheating scam on Sunday has shined the light on how a gang assisted its customers to pass the test.
On Sunday when the exam was held nationwide, 11 applicants who could not hide their anxiety were caught and confessed to having hidden short-wave radio signal receivers in the most private parts of their bodies.
The 11 suspects were caught at testing sites in areas under the jurisdiction of the Provincial Police Region 3. To avoid being caught during searches before entering the examination room, men hid the receiver in their anuses or near their testicles, while women put it in their vaginas.
Staff at one centre were alerted to the cheating when they found one of the receivers during a search of a latecomer to the test.
The receivers were modified to receive vibrating signals from the gang which dictated to them the correct answers for the multiple choice tests.
Other testing sites were alerted to the discovery and 23 more applicants were detained after being found with similar radio receiver devices.
That led to a search of a hotel where the applicants who were arrested said they were staying along with some people who orchestrated the scam.
At the hotel, five suspects, including a woman whose husband is a police officer in Si Sa Ket, were arrested and radio signal transmitters seized.
The husband was then arrested in Si Sa Ket and police seized 10.5 million baht in cash along with a copy of a contract indicating that he had been hired to organise the exam fraud.
Arrest warrants were subsequently sent out for two more suspects in Lampang who were said to be the bosses of the gang.
"I believe some insiders must have colluded with the gang. There were up to eight different test papers used in the exam and it was impossible that the tests were leaked without the insiders' help," said Provincial Police Region 3 chief Phanu Kerdlarppol.
Tueanjai Pongpan, 45, one of the five suspects arrested at the hotel, allegedly told police the eight versions of the test were bought for 3 million baht each a few hours before the exam began because the real tests were only printed that very morning to prevent a possible leak.
After that, a team worked on the tests before sending out radio signals to the receivers.
Students were told to check the number of vowels and intonation marks in the first question of their tests to determine which tests they had received. The organisers sent vibrating signals to confirm if they were correct. All eight tests contained the same questions but in different orders.
Pol Lt-Gen Phanu said police were looking into how the gang sent their answers to applicants holding different papers.
