Phuket police hunt two drug dealing gunmen

[webfact]

Phuket police hunt two drug dealing gunmen
Eakkapop Thongtub


The vehicle was invoved in an acsident and abandoned.

Phuket: -- Police on Phuket are hunting for two drug dealers who Friday evening (January 23) opened fire in the middle of Phuket Chaofa Garden Home 3 in Koh Kaew, before driving off towards the Thalang police checkpoint, throwing away drugs and a gun en-route.

Pol Lt Col Chao Pomna of Phuket City police received a report of an incident involving an unidentified number of people who were driving a white Toyota Vios and started to open fire in Chaofa Garden Home 3 Village. Police were afraid that residents in the area might be harmed, so he and a team of officers went to inspect the scene. Originally, nothing suspicious was found.

However, information received from nearby villagers told them that the license plate number of the vehicle was Kor Nor 3007 Phuket, and at the time of the incident there were two men in the car that opened fire. They escaped, but luckily there were no people injured.

The police hunted for the gunman and vehicle but found nothing.

Later in the evening, police received further information that one of the two men had been involved in a fight with a resident living in the village. The reason for the fight is currently unknown.

Then, at around 1.10am yesterday morning (January 24), Thalang police, who had set up a checkpoint in front of the Chaofa Garden Home 3 Village to check for illegal items, saw a Toyota Vios driving at high speed towards the checkpoint. The car failed to stop and continued to drive towards Baan Muang Mai.

The Vios was then involved in an accident and hit a signpost at the side of the on the road in front of the Mission Hill Golf Course Phuket Resort and Spa.

The accident caused a tyre on the vehicle to burst, and the driver and passenger ran from the car and into the golf course.

A team of police, together with Kusoldharm workers, searched the area but were unable to find the suspects.

Upon checking the abandoned vehicle, police found a camera installed on the front of the dashboard. When officers checked the camera, they found that it had captured the incident at Chaofa Garden Home 3 Village and was still recording when they drove through the checkpoint.

During the recording the suspects had a conversation that mentioned about throwing away drugs and a gun after driving through checkpoint.

At around 6.30am yesterday, Pol Lt Col Amnuay Kraiwuttinun of Thalang Police went with a team to check the route that the suspects had taken after driving through the checkpoint to see if they had thrown anything from the vehicle.

After about 30 minutes of searching, officers found a cloth at the roadside opposite the village police station, and inside the cloth, the team found 10.74 grams of crystal meth (ya ice), 2,060 methamphetamine pills (ya bah), a bag of marijuana, an 11mm automatic pistol and bullets.

Police are currently checking the abandoned vehicle for finger prints, and are continuing to search for the suspects.

Source: http://www.thephuketnews.com/phuket-police-hunt-two-drug-dealing-gunmen-50722.php


-- Phuket News 2015-01-25

[NeverSure]

That's not the first time I've seen "11 mm semi automatic pistol" mentioned on this site regarding Thailand. That's a new one for me.

I wonder what it is, and if it could be a restatement of .45 caliber (big)? Like .45 ACP (AKA .45 Colt) or another? The only 11 mm pistols I've ever heard of are antique black powder European guns. I've never seen one.

Maybe I'm just losing it upstairs.