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A major manhunt is under way in Thailand for a former senior police officer who allegedly killed a drugs suspect in custody while trying to extort money from him.

Warrants were issued for the arrest of seven officers for murder after a video emerged of a man suffocating after plastic bags were put over his head.

The group were trying to extort two million Thai baht (£44,399) from the man.

A Royal Thai Police spokesman said five of the group allegedly involved have been arrested but two were still on the run following the incident on 5 August at their police station in the province of Nakhon Sawan, north of Bangkok.

They include Police Colonel Thitisan Utthanaphon, nicknamed “Jo Ferrari” due to his collection of sports cars. He was sacked as Muang police station chief when the allegations came to light.

A leaked CCTV video clip of the incident sparked public outrage after it was shared on the Facebook page of a lawyer earlier this week. Sittra Biabangkerd said he was given it by an officer at the police station.

It shows the male suspect in handcuffs being led into a room, his head covered with a plastic bag. He is then assaulted and thrown to the floor by officers who put more bags on his head.

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One of them appears to briefly kneel on him.

The man, identified by Thai media as 24-year-old Jeerapong Thanapat, then goes limp. Police try to revive him with a jug of water and CPR.

Another lawyer, Decha Kittiwittayanan, published an account of the alleged murder on his Facebook account after reportedly receiving a complaint from a junior police officer.

It is alleged the officers first tried to extort one million baht (£22,199) from him to pay for his release before doubling the demand on the orders of Pol Col Utthanaphon.

Following the suspect’s death it is claimed he then ordered his men to take the body to a hospital and say the man had died from a suspected methamphetamine overdose.

The junior officer said a woman arrested at the same time was released.

Sawanpracharak Hospital issued a statement confirming it received the body on 5 August and was told the man collapsed and died running away from police. An internal review is under way.

Meanwhile, a dedicated team of detectives have been appointed to investigate the case against the officers.

Police said they were working “round the clock” to arrest the two suspects still at large.

“The chief of police has instructed immigration police, border police and all units to stay on alert in order to arrest the remaining police officers and bring them to justice,” Police Colonel Kissana Phathanacharoen told Sky News.

As part of the investigation police found 29 cars registered to Pol Col Utthanaphon including supercars from Ferrari, Porsche, Lamborghini and Bentley, according to Thai media.

Campaigners are now demanding a full and transparent inquiry into police misconduct in Thailand.

“A prosecution fully independent of the Thai police is needed if there is any hope of justice in the torture and killing of Jeerapong Thanapat,” said Brad Adams, the Asia Director at Human Rights Watch.

“Successive Thai governments have a long history of failing to ensure accountability for even the most ghastly police abuses against people in custody.”

The police spokesman agreed the case was not “a good image for the Royal Thai police as a whole”, but added justice would be served.

“There are a lot of good cops out there, but if there is one bad cop we have to deal with them. We have to take serious, disciplined action and also criminal actions against them. So we’ve got to separate the bad and the good,” Pol Col Phathanacharoen said.

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At least 47 passengers killed in plane crash at South Korea airport

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At least 47 passengers killed in plane crash at South Korea airport

At least 47 passengers have been killed in a plane crash at an airport in South Korea, officials have said.

Rescuers are attempting to pull people from the wreckage of the plane after it veered off a runway at Muan International Airport and crashed into a wall, becoming engulfed in flames.

The plane was carrying 175 passengers and six crew members when it attempted to land, but its landing gear was said to have not fully opened.

Pic: Reuters
Image:
Pic: Reuters

Firefighters and rescue team members work in the aftermath of the crash.
Pic: Lee Young-ju/Newsis/AP
Image:
Firefighters and rescue team members work in the aftermath of the crash.
Pic: Lee Young-ju/Newsis/AP

Yonhap News Agency reported that a collision with a bird may have caused the malfunction – citing officials.

Footage aired by YTN television showed the moment the plane slammed into the wall at the airport and burst into flames, after skidding off the runway without its landing gear deployed.

Further photos shared by local media showed smoke and flames engulfing much of the plane.

Officials said the blaze has been brought mostly under control and South Korea’s transport ministry said the incident happened at 9.03am local time on Sunday (shortly after midnight in the UK).

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Jeju Air flight 7C2216, a Boeing 737-800 jet, was on its way back from Bangkok, Thailand, at the time of the crash.

South Korea’s emergency office said two people had been safely rescued, one passenger and one crew member.

Among those on board were 173 South Koreans and two Thai people, local media reported.

So far almost 30 people are said to have died.
Pic: Reuters
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So far almost 50 people are said to have died.
Pic: Reuters

A rescue team prepares at Muan Airport after the crash.
Pic: Maeng Dae-hwan/Newsis/AP
Image:
A rescue team prepares at Muan Airport after the crash.
Pic: Maeng Dae-hwan/Newsis/AP

Thick smoke above the airport after the crash.
Pic: Reuters
Image:
Thick smoke above the airport after the crash.
Pic: Reuters

All domestic and international flights from Muan International Airport have been cancelled in light of the fatal crash.

Acting President Choi Sung-mok ordered a rescue effort, his office said.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.

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Director of one of last functioning hospitals in northern Gaza detained in Israeli military raid

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Director of one of last functioning hospitals in northern Gaza detained in Israeli military raid

The director of one of the last functioning hospitals in northern Gaza was arrested in a raid the Israeli military said was targeting a Hamas command centre.

The Hamas-run Palestinian health ministry said Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, was held by Israeli forces on Friday along with dozens of other staff and taken to an interrogation centre.

Sky News has spoken to patients who say they were forced outside and told to strip in winter weather after troops stormed the hospital.

Israel‘s military said it “conducted and completed a targeted operation” as the hospital was being used as a command centre for Hamas military operations.

Dr Hussam Abu Safiya
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Dr Hussam Abu Safiya. File pic

An Israel Defense Forces (IDF) statement said more than 240 terrorists were detained, some of whom tried to pose as patients or flee using ambulances.

Among those taken for questioning are the hospital’s director, who it said was suspected of being a “Hamas terrorist operative”.

Around 15 people involved in last year’s 7 October attack on southern Israel, in which around 1,200 people were killed and 250 others abducted, were also detained, the IDF said.

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The Israeli military said hundreds of patients and staff were evacuated to another hospital before and during the operation, and it had provided fuel and medical supplies to both hospitals.

Militants fired on its forces and they were “eliminated”, while weapons, including grenades, guns, munitions, and military equipment, were also seized in the raid, it said.

‘It was humiliation’, says injured patient

After news spread on Friday of Kamal Adwan – one of the last functioning hospitals in northern Gaza – being burnt and raided by Israeli forces, a haunting video emerged, writes Sky News correspondent Yousra Elbagir.

Half-stripped men treading over rubble through a scene of full scale destruction with their arms raised and large tanks on either side.

One of the injured patients made to take the walk was being treated in the hospital with his wife and children by his side.

In the hours after being released he shared his experience from the safety of al Ahli hospital.

“The army came the night before and started firing rockets at the hospital and surrounding buildings,” he says. He looks weak and his clothes are grey with concrete dust.

“Yesterday between 5.30 and six, the army came to the hospital and called out [with a loudspeaker] that the director of the hospital must hand over all the displaced, the sick and wounded.”

The director of Kamal Adwan hospital Dr Hussam Abu Safiya had been sharing videos online sounding the alarm on intensified Israeli attacks on the hospital in a 10-day siege before the full raid. He has been detained in the raid.

“We all started leaving then the army stopped us and told the director, ‘I want them in their underwear without any clothes on and they should leave without clothes on’,” says the patient.

“So, we went out without clothes and walked a long distance to a checkpoint. They made us sit there still without any clothes all day in the freezing cold. Once we entered the checkpoint – it was humiliation, cursing and insults in an unnatural way.”

“When they finished the search they placed a number on the back of our necks and on our chest. After we were done with the search they loaded us on to trucks – still naked without any clothes on.”

He says they waited in the trucks for four hours before they were released and that the injured, sick, the medical staff and visitors all faced the same humiliating treatment.

The Israel-Hamas war has killed more than 45,400 Palestinians, over half of them women and children, and wounded more than 108,000 others, according to the health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

The hospital has been hit multiple times over the past three months by Israeli troops waging an offensive in largely isolated northern Gaza against Hamas fighters it says have regrouped.

The health ministry said a strike on the hospital earlier this week killed five medical personnel.

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The World Health Organization (WHO) said it was “appalled” by Friday’s raid, which it said put northern Gaza’s last major health facility “out of service”.

“The systematic dismantling of the health system and a siege for over 80 days… puts the lives of the 75,000 Palestinians remaining in the area at risk,” a statement said.

The Israeli military said in a statement: “The IDF will continue to act in accordance with international law regarding medical facilities, including those where Hamas has chosen to embed its military infrastructure and conduct terrorist activities in blatant violation of international law.”

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Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu to undergo surgery to have prostate removed

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Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu to undergo surgery to have prostate removed

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will go into hospital to have his prostate removed, his office has said.

The 75-year-old was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection resulting from a benign prostate enlargement.

Mr Netanyahu is expected to go into hospital on Sunday to undergo the operation.

Earlier this year, he had surgery for a hernia and had a pacemaker fitted last year.

The announcement comes after the Israeli military raided one of the last functioning hospitals in northern Gaza, arresting its director.

Israel has been at war with Hamas for more than 14 months since the 7 October attacks in which around 1,200 people were killed and 250 others abducted.

More than 45,400 Palestinians, over half of them women and children, have been killed and more than 108,000 others wounded, according to the Hamas-run Palestinian health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

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