Chakkapan Srisa-ard

Eight-year-old Chakkapan Srisa-ard died caught in gunfire during a police sting operation in Bangkok. Chakkapan’s death came after his father was arrested making a drug delivery to undercover agents. When his mother tried to escape in the family car, police opened fire. Chakkapan, hit in the back, died on the spot.

Raeed Junuthai

Raeed Junuthai, a 53-year-old housewife murdered a week earlier in Suphanburi province, shows another facet of the deadly force unleashed by Thai leaders to smash the drug scourge in a country with one of the highest rates of amphetamine abuse.

Her husband Somkiat relates how a district counselor warned Raeed two weeks ago she was on a drugs blacklist and should report to local police. The next morning a gunman shot her dead a few hundred yards from her home. Neighbours said a stranger in a white pick-up asked for her while she was out fishing in rice paddies. Soon after they saw him stop his car, walk up to her and heard gunfire. Somkiat found her face down beside the road, shot in the head, back and arms.

This video offers a glimpse into the violence as well as personal stories.