Weapons cache found in Nakhon Si Thammarat

By KRISSANA THIWATSIRIKUL,

PATCHARAPOL PANRAK

THE NATION ON SUNDAY

Nakhon Si Thammarat police seized war weapons and arrested two men late on Friday suspected of being professional killers and dealing in drugs.

The move came as campaigns for the July 3 election intensified and police keep a lookout for violence between political rivals.

Police raided a house in Tambon Thaiburi in Tha Sala district at 8pm on Friday, which belongs to suspected professional killers and drug dealers, after securing a search warrant following a tip-off that weapons were being stored in the house.

They arrested Chalerm Intarachit, 25, and Thanit Thaninpong, 22, and seized a M-79 grenade launcher with some grenades, a .375 rifle, two rifles with telescopic sights, a laser-equipped M-16 rifle, a laser range-finder and hundreds of bullets. They also found a weighing scale and plastic packets containing crystal methamphetamine.

Pol Lt-General Korkiat Wongworachat, the head of Provincial Police Region 8, said police had watched the men for a while until they were certain the suspects were involved in drug dealing and piling up war weapons in the house.

He said police were checking on 10 motorcycles found at the house, which the men were said to be repairing, to try to find out if they had been stolen.

A source in the police team said the seized weapons were linked to the assassination of a local politician and there was credible information that the weapons would be used to kill an influential person during the election campaign - to make it look like the killing stemmed from a political conflict.

The source also said a third suspect escaped arrest because he left the house 10 minutes before the raid.

Meanwhile, Police Region 2 Commissioner Lt-General Thangai Pratsajagsattru said police checkpoints, set up since May 10 on Sukhumvit Road in Chon Buri to boost security prior to the poll, had resulted in the seizure of 200 guns and four war weapons, as well as dozens of unlicensed motorcycles.

Chon Buri was rated as one of 10 provinces with cut-throat political rivalry, but so far there had been no reports of threats made against politicians - unlike in Chachoengsao and Prachin Buri, he said.

-- The Nation 2011-06-05

i wonder were did they get these weapons from.......