A team of police went to a petrol station in Wang Noi district late last night after a tip-off that a prime suspect in the attack would come to pick up his girlfriend there.
When a suspected pickup truck arrived at the petrol station at around 10:30pm, police asked to search the vehicle, but the driver opened fire and sped off.
Officers gave chase and the pickup truck later plunged into a roadside ditch on Soi Wat Siwaram in the same district. Two men in the vehicle fled into a roadside forest.
Police surrounded the area and later managed to arrest one suspect, identified later as Noppadol Muangsrichan. The driver, known only as ‘Coke’, managed to flee.
Noppadol, 27, was wanted on a court warrant for his involvement in the fatal attack on a car carrying four men in Bang Pahan District early Thursday morning.
The shooting left Khwanchai Pimchai, 31, dead and car driver Sunthorn Khaosamruang, 30, badly wounded. The two other passengers were unharmed.
The attack occurred shortly after the victims left a restaurant in Bang Pahan at around 4:30am.
Police said Noppadol was the leader of the gang of four attackers. The three other suspects – Weeraphol Hattahayamart, 27; Phet Rattanawaraha, 33; and Sutthkarn Phethin, 25 – had been caught earlier yesterday evening.
The four suspects have been charged with colluding in the murder. Noppadol faces an additional charge of attempted murder while fleeing the arrest.
Police are still questioning the four to discover the motive for Thursday fatal attack.
Coke, who remains at large, was not involved in Thursday’s attack, but he drove the pickup truck to help Noppadol flee the police arrest last night.
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