“I am still in Bangkok clearing my work here,” Col Kantawat told The Phuket News in a brief phone call this morning (May 24).
“I will be heading to Phuket soon,” he added, but did not clarify when he expected to arrive on the island.
An official order published in the Royal Gazette on May 17 mandated that Col Kantawat was to formally take office in Phuket last Thursday (May 17).
He was transferred to Phuket from his post as Chief of the Immigration Bureau’s Information Technology Centre in Bangkok.
Col Kantawat declined to comment on any issues he is to face as Phuket’s new immigration chief, including the controversial “Foreign National Information Form” asking personal details of applicants. (See story here.)
“It is too early to comment. I am not ready yet. I will tell you when I am ready to talk,” was all Col Kantawat would say.
Meanwhile, former Phuket Immigration Superintendent Col Sunchai Chokkajaykij has been transferred to the post of Superintendent of Visa on Arrival Sub-Division at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok.
Pol Lt Col Somjit Waratom is currently Acting Chief of the Phuket Immigration Office.