Boss of BB gun bandits caught
ROBBERS WANTED REAL WEAPONS TO CARRY OUT MORE HEISTS
A Chinese man has been arrested on suspicion of being the mastermind of a botched gun shop robbery in Bangkok on Friday that left a compatriot dead.
National police chief Chakthip Chaijinda said Zheng Yang, 30, was caught by railway police yesterday morning at Nakhon Sawan railway station in Muang district. He was in a sleeping carriage on a train going from Bangkok to Chiang Mai.
Police believe the man was trying to flee the country through the northern border after the failed robbery.
About 11am on Friday, at least five men carrying BB guns and knives tried to rob Interarms gun shop in Wang Burapha area on Charoen Krung Road in Phra Nakhon district.
Four men identified as Chinese entered the shop with their faces covered by helmets. They pulled out BB guns and demanded the shop staff give them guns.
They attacked the staff, leaving them with minor injuries.
As the robbers were making their getaway on two motorcycles, a police officer near the scene heard a commotion and immediately fired at them after they pointed their fake guns at him.
The shots killed Wu Xingjun, 40, and injured Sun Junwei, 27, Li Kunpeng, 26, and Ma Geng, 34, police said.
Pol Gen Chakthip said Mr Zheng was questioned by tourist police following his arrest. He allegedly confessed that he was the person seen in a photograph linked to the gun shop robbery.
The suspect also allegedly confessed he was involved in the botched gun shop robbery, he added.
Mr Zheng was charged with robbery using weapons, colluding in attempted murder, possessing weapons in public and having radio transmitters without permission, Pol Gen Chakthip said.
Tourist police had received a tip-off that a man who resembled one of the suspects was seen at Hua Lampong Railway Station where he bought a ticket to Chiang Mai.
Tourist police sought assistance from railway police to launch a sweep of 11 carriages as the train was approaching Nakhon Sawan Railway Station.
In a sleeping compartment, they found Mr Zheng curled up asleep. They said he looked exhausted.
A check of the suspect’s belongings found no evidence related to the robbery, police said, adding he might have got rid of any evidence linking him to the robbery after leaving Bangkok.
Pol Gen Chakthip said the investigation into the incident was continuing. In the initial interrogation some of the suspects allegedly said they wanted the guns to carry out bank heists in Pattaya or Phuket.
Mr Zheng, the fifth suspect, told investigators they wanted to sell the weapons in China.
Investigators are also checking to see if there were any Thais behind the robbery and how the suspects were able to obtain the BB guns.
Metropolitan Police Bureau acting commissioner Sanit Mahathaworn, who has spoken to Chinese embassy officials about the robbery, said yesterday the robbery had nothing to do with terrorism or political unrest.
A sixth suspect in the robbery, a man named Su Su, was arrested in Phuket yesterday and was being questioned, Pol Maj Gen Theerapol Thipcharoen, the Phuket Provincial Police chief said. The man was allegedly responsible for buying communications devices used in the robbery.
Samran Rat police yesterday took Mr Ma and Mr Li to the gun shop to re-enact the crime.