BANGKOK — A tense situation in Bangkok occurred on Thursday late night when an armed criminal fled from police arrest, breaking into a civilian’s house where a family resided.
An armed criminal with an automatic weapon had entered a civilian’s house with residents inside at around 8 p.m. on October 3. Initial reports indicated the hostage was a child, but it was later discovered to be two male residents in their 30s, while their mother had managed to escape earlier.
Police deployed the Hanuman unit commandos to the house and engage in a shootout with the criminal in Soi Inthamara 29, Phaya Thai district, just before 10 p.m. They identified the perpetrator as Santi, 39 years old.
At the time of the incident, Santi had evaded arrest by police officers from Tao Poon Police Station and had taken refuge on the second floor of the house. There were two male residents on that floor.
Later, Pol. Gen. Kittirat Panpetch, acting National Police Chief, arrived at the scene along with Pol. Maj. Gen. Nopasilp Poonsawat, Deputy Metropolitan Police Commander. They revealed to the media that there were 3 residents in the house: a mother and her two sons. The mother had escaped earlier, while the two sons were hiding in a room.
CCTV footage revealed that Santi entered this house a few minutes after 8 p.m. He then knocked on a door on the second floor. One of the residents opened the door slightly. The criminal raised his finger to his lips, signaling to be quiet, then spoke with the person in the room for a while. After the person in the room closed the door, the criminal turned to drink water from a tap on that floor.
Later, Mr. Sorasak Saetang, owner of the Tee-Ded 99 boxing camp and former boss of Santi, arrived at the scene to try to persuade Santi to release the people in the house.
Surasak revealed to reporters that Santi was a former famous boxer with a fee of up to 100,000 baht, using the name Rittidej Mai Muang Khon. After retiring from boxing, he became a trainer at Tee-Ded 99 camp. However, due to his personal behavior of petty theft and drug use, he couldn’t stay with the people in the camp and was fired 5 years ago.
After midnight on Thursday, when the police were certain that the criminal and the hostages were not together, they raided the house to rescue the hostages. They discovered that Santi had escaped from the house. The officers didn’t know how he escaped, and the two residents hiding in the room also didn’t know when the criminal had fled.
Therefore, the authorities must continue to pursue and apprehend Santi. Meanwhile, the issue of gun possession may once again become a subject of criticism, following the police’s continued efforts to crack down on it
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