INDONESIAN officials flew a Thai escaped convict to Nakhon Si Thammarat airport today (June 4) after he was caught in Bali last week with senior Thai police officers on hand to take him into custody, Thai Rath newspaper and TV Channel 7 said.
Present at the airport to ensure smooth repatriation of the wanted Thai convict were the Indonesian Ambassador Mr. Rachmat Budiman, Pol. Lt. Gen Surapong Thanomchit, head of Region 8 Provincial Police Bureau, Pol. Lt. Gen. Somchai Suetohtrakul, head of Nakhon Si Thammarat police and the provincial governor Mr. Kraisorn Wisitwong.
Mr. Chaowalit Thongduang, or Sia Pang Nanode, was caught in Bali holding a fake Indonesian passport and pretending to be dumb because he could not speak the language after being on the run for 222 days.
While serving a 20 years and six months jail term for attempted murder in 2022, he escaped from Maharat Nakhon Si Thammarat Hospital on Oct. 22, 2023 after being taken there for dental treatment but afterwards admitted upon collapsing due to leg pains. Even though he was restrained to the bed and was wearing leg shackles he escaped that night.
Soon after the Indonesian Super Air Jet airplane landed at 5.38 p.m. Pol. Maj. Gen. Songprod Sirisuka, commander of Region 6 Immigration Police, and Pol. Lt. Col. Wanchai Sukchaem, head of Nakhon Si Thammarat Immigration office, went to receive him and brought him to a special waiting room.
After that Immigration police were to show him the red notice for his arrest for leaving the country without permission. This was to be followed by police from Nakhon Si Thammarat station reading charges of escaping detention and violating the Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives, Fireworks and Imitation Firearms Act, B.E.2490 (1947). This was expected to take an hour.
At 6.27 p.m. when Chaowalit was brought out of the arrivals terminal guarded by a team from Provincial Special Operation Sub-Division police reporters there noticed that he had changed his shirt and was wearing a bullet-proof vest and a face cap.
He looked calm but did not answer any of the questions from the reporters.
He was then to be taken in a van under strong police escort to Nakhon Si Thammarat police station, a distance of 23km, for questioning.
CAPTION::
Mr. Chaowalit Thongduang, or Sia Pang Nanode upon leaving Soekarno–Hatta International Airport in Jakarta and arriving at Nakhon Si Thammarat airport. Photos:Thai Rath
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