A man, suspected of fatally shooting a highway police officer and injuring another in Nakhon Pathom on Wednesday night, was shot and killed by police in Kanchanaburi province early this morning (Friday).
Police claim that the suspect, identified as Thananchai Munmark, resisted arrest by opening fire at a police car, forcing the officers to fire back in self-defence. The shooting took place in Tha Rua district of Kanchanaburi at about 5.45am this morning.
Another suspect, identified as “Praween”, aka “Kamnan Nok”, the influential chief of Ta Klong sub-district in Nakhon Pathom, surrendered to Crime Suppression Division (CSD) police at the Mueang district police station yesterday. He denied all the charges against him.
Arrest warrants had been issued for Praween and Thananchai, after both men were accused of killing the highway police officer and injuring the other in the compound of Praween’s house. It was reported that Praween had invited the two officers, among others, to his house for a familiarisation dinner, during which he asked one of the officers, Pol Maj Sivakorn Saibua, for promotional favours for some police officers who are close to him, but the officer refused. Praween reportedly got angry and left the dinner table abruptly. Shortly afterward, a group of gunmen arrived and opened fire at the two officers.
The incident prompted the commissioner of the Central Investigation Bureau to order the “Hanuman” team of CSD officers to hunt the gunmen down, with an instruction to use “decisive” force if the suspects resist arrest, claiming they were armed and dangerous.
Meanwhile, Pol Gen Surachate Hakparn, the deputy national police chief, has ordered an investigation into the conduct of about 20 police officers who were reported to have been having dinner at Praween’s house on Wednesday night. An investigative superintendent of Nakhon Pathom province is believed to have been among them.
Some of the officers there are accused of aiding and abetting the escape of the gunmen and helping to destroy some evidence in an attempt to cover up the shooting.
