Fatal drug shootout injures baby, passerby
A suspected drug trafficker was killed, while a three-month-old baby believed to be his son and a passerby were injured in a shootout with police in Pomprap Sattruphai district of Bangkok yesterday.
Another suspected trafficker was also injured in the gunfight, which lasted more than 10 minutes.
Ten officers were sent to track a white Isuzu pickup truck from the North that police suspected of being linked to a drug trafficking ring.
Pol Maj Gen Thanai Apichartseni, a commander at the Narcotics Suppression Bureau, said police tried in vain to block the vehicle at the Mahanak market.
The suspects in the truck, aware that they were being followed, evaded the police by taking Luk Luang Road near the Thewakam intersection.
Police shot out the tyres of the truck, which came to a halt on Liap Khlong Phadung Krung Kasem Road.
Police approached the truck but the suspects shot at them from inside the vehicle, prompting officers to return fire. Bystanders fled for cover.
After the gunfight, police f ound Pichet Dokmaipum, 37, from Saraburi, beside the pickup truck.
He had been injured and sustained several bullet wounds to his right arm and jaw.
Another man was found dead with two bullet wounds to the head in the rear seat of the vehicle.
Beside him was a baby boy about three months old with a minor cut on his forehead.
The dead man is believed to be the baby’s father.
Police suspect the dead man may be a Hmong highlander. Officers found 68,000 methamphetamine pills along with four kilogrammes of crystal methamphetamine, or ya ice, hidden inside a subwoofer box packed in brown cardboard boxes.
The injured passerby is Somrudee Wanawanant, a 23-year-old student at Rajamangala University of Technology Phra Nakhon. She was wounded by a bullet that grazed her left ear and cheek as she was ordering food at a shop about 200m from the shootout scene.
Pol Gen Pongsapat Pongcharoen, secretary-general of the Narcotics Control Board, said the drug packages bore the ‘‘999’’ logo that represents the drug network led by Lt Col Yi Se, leader of an armed Muser group.