Chiang Rai policeman killed in ambush at police checkpoint

Nopniwat Krailerg

The body of fallen Pol. Sub. Lt. Sirawit Poonkamlang is carried in the coffin to Wat Huay for the funeral ceremonies.

CHIANG RAI: -- One policeman was killed and another man wounded after a pickup truck with ten men pulled up alongside the checkpoint and men in the truck opened fire on the police with AK47s. The incident began on January 22 at 4:20 p.m. when two young Akha men driving a motorcycle to Mae Fah Luang were stopped by the police at the checkpoint.

The second man received a phone call and then handed the phone to police where an unknown man said his son should leave if he didn’t want to get into trouble. Moments later, a Toyota pickup truck with Myanmar license plates pulled up alongside and opened fire at the officials.

Pol. Sub. Lt. Sirawit Poonkamlang was shot in the neck and as he lay in a pool of blood, Senior Sergent Yothin Keawkameai ran out to pull him to safety; he was shot twice in the leg and hip. The pickup truck fled back across the border to Myanmar and the two policemen were taken to Chiang Rai Prachanukroh Hospital. The body of a Burmese man was found bout 20 meters from the checkpoint after the attackers drove off.

Police believe that a criminal gang from the Lahu village in Burma across the border from Baan Pha Khao village were involved.

Chiang Rai Governor Tanin Supasaen went to the hospital to make merit for the fallen policeman whose funeral is being held at Wat Huay in Krai Mae Sai District in Chiang Rai.

[chiangmaimail]2012-01-25[/chiangmaimail]

RIP

Not a drug run gone bad. So many ways around this check point. Targeted event on some one.

RIP. Always sad to loose a fellow Officer.

I'm not sure where the shootings occurred... was it an isolated border checkpoint?

The reference to the killers fleeing " back across the border to Myanmar" indicates it may have been.

The victims seem to be quite senior or a standard "stop and check" operation.

Strange situation, who was the dead Burmese man? RIP dead RTP

Strange situation, who was the dead Burmese man? RIP dead RTP

A good guess is he was the first to die, retribution or karma was the result.

This news is several days old.

This news is several days old.

and your point is?

It is always nice to teach them not to bully. Those police see your burmese faces and want to dig for $$.