Police are confident that they will be able to retrieve all 159 guns, stolen from Pak Kret police station over the past five years by a non-commissioned police officer, within the next few days.

Pol Maj-Gen Pananchai Chuenjaitham, deputy commissioner of Region 1 Provincial Police Bureau, said today (Saturday) that 41 weapons have been retrieved so far, as police investigators search for the rest in various provinces, including Chanthaburi and Suphan Buri.

He said that some of the stolen guns had been resold to the third parties adding, however, that police know the identities of those who bought the guns from Chaowalit Pumkajorn, who was in charge of supervising the distribution of guns at Pak Kret police station.

Chaowalit allegedly told police that he stole 2-3 guns at a time and falsified records to indicate that they were distributed to police officers.

Pol Maj-Gen Pananchai said that the retrieved guns must be verified as the ones which were stolen.

Except for Chaowalit, who has been charged with theft, forgery and use of falsified documents, he said no other individuals have been charged.

The stolen guns include 134 handguns and 25 M-16 and M-4 assault rifles.