A DRUG TRAFFICKER identified as a major distributor in several districts of Ratchaburi and Kanchanaburi provinces was shot dead by narcotics police in a shootout as he was trying to flee his home in a pickup truck with police chasing him in their sedan yesterday afternoon, Matichon newspaper said this morning (August 18).
The Narcotics suppression squad at Ban Pong police station in Ratchaburi had found out through arrested small-time dealers that Mr. Chaiwit Siriathiphorn, or Mot Daodam, 30, was a major distributor in this district and several others in Kanchanaburi province.
A Ratchaburi police team went to his house in Phang Tru subdistrict of Kanchanaburi’s Tha Muang district, but when they arrived the suspect quickly drove out in his four-door pickup truck. Police zoomed up in their sedan and tried to block his escape but he fired three shots at them and also rammed his pickup truck at their vehicle.
The policemen then fired several shots at his pickup truck causing the vehicle to plunge into the adjacent irrigation canal.
When Kanchanaburi police heard of the shootout they rushed to the scene and found that Ratchaburi policemen’s car had been damaged in front while there were bullet holes in the rear window.
Later divers from Rattanavudh Foundation went into the canal and towed the pickup truck back to the road. The suspect was found dead at the driver’s seat after being shot in the head. There was a bullet hole in the window on the driver’s side of the door, another one going through the front passenger door, three going through the rear left passenger door with another one piercing the rear windshield.
Found were three bags holding a hundred methamphetamine pills each placed in another plastic bag and around 20,000 more drug pills in other bags on the back seat. Also found near his dead body were a revolver weapon and an automatic firearm.
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The spot where the shootout took place. Photos: Matichon
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