Teen killer claim upsets; school sex shock; Van’s the man

Sex clip row ends in death

Police inspect Hilmi’s car.

A Narathiwat teen’s confession that he acted alone in throttling and stabbing to death a former sleeping partner has up-ended police theories about the brutal slaying.

Ra-ngae district police nabbed Abdullah (no surname given), 18, at his home in Kalisa sub-district for fatally stabbing motorcycle salesman, Hilmi Yako, 25, inside his white Toyota sedan. He earlier tried strangling him with a nylon rope found at the scene, and stabbed him to finish off the job.

The suspect, who admitted the murder, claimed he was angry because the victim recorded a video of them having sex and refused to delete it from his phone.

News media reports have made much of the fact the victim recently started his first job and was the mainstay of his family. His relatives have cast doubts on the suspect’s claims that he acted alone and want a more detailed probe.

Abdullah

Police say the DNA analysis by a forensic team in Narathiwat helped lead them to the killer. However, his Feb 11 arrest and confession in which he insisted acting alone upset earlier theories about the case.

Police initially suspected that at least two offenders must have been involved: one sitting behind the victim, who throttled him; and another in the passenger seat, who stabbed him.

A third person was thought to have picked up the offenders on a motorcycle and fled in what they said was a well planned, premeditated attack.

However, they could not figure out a motive other than “personal conflict”, as the victim was not known to have any problems with anyone.

In fact, Abdullah said he arranged to meet Hilmi alone. Hilmi, he said, was planning a trip to Vietnam.

He was sitting in the passenger seat and asked his friend to delete the clip he had taken secretly of them having sex, but Hilmi, police said, refused, leading to an argument which culminated in the fatal attack.

Hilmi hit the accelerator as they were talking, sending the vehicle into the ditch below. One TV report said Abdullah tried to strangle him with the rope but realised he was still alive, so stabbed him five times in the chest, abdomen, and left rib cage with a fruit knife.

He discarded the rope at the scene along with a pair of white gloves, and removed a surveillance camera from the vehicle.

Police say they found blood stains on the driver’s seat, along with a pair of glasses. They also found a ring under the seat, and a dinosaur toy. In the boot, officers found a black bag of clothing.

The suspect claims he fled into the forest, falling into a swamp and losing the knife, before clambering out and escaping via a concrete road. Police took him on a crime reconstruction, and searched the swamp, but could not find the weapon.

Pol Lt Gen Maitree Santayakul, Narathiwat police commander, said an investigation into the victim’s phone records is ongoing.

The suspect said he and the victim met at a local park. “The victim picked him up from a friend’s house, and they drove together. The suspect said the victim was bringing him a shirt,” he said.

Regarding the rope and knife used in the crime, the suspect did not say if he had prepared them in advance. “The suspect’s lack of truthfulness is not a significant obstacle; the main challenge is gathering witness testimony,” Pol Lt Gen Maitree said.

TV reports said the victim’s elder brother, among other family members, dispute claims Abdullah acted alone, and want police to review the evidence.

Police say they spoke to witnesses in the area. They learned the sedan had been seen parked by the roadside, and it appeared the occupants were talking. After a while, the car rolled off the road. Locals reported the incident to the village headman, who called police.

Investigators charged the suspect with premeditated murder. The probe continues.

Kids learn bad tricks

The mother complains to police.

A mother in Chon Buri has complained to police after her son was forced to perform sex games at school by three older children from neighbouring countries.

Netizens were aghast as news spread of the saga involving the Thai boy, aged 7, whose mother, “A”, 33, went to Ban Bueng police when the school’s reaction fell short.

A also posted a message to a website asking if she could sue the children concerned, news reports said.

The mother, a factory worker, said her son, aged 7, who is in Grade 1, was forced to perform sex games by three older children from Cambodia and Myanmar who study in the same class. She found out about the Feb 7 incident after a parent of one of her son’s classmates contacted her.

A group of students aged 10 and 11, (some news reports said they were aged 8 and 9), consisting of Cambodian and Myanmar nationals, had restrained her son and A’s own son and forced them to perform oral sex, she said.

They waited until there was no one in sight, pinned down the boys and forced them to submit.

A said her son did not mention anything about it until she asked. She decided to question her son after his classmate’s mother contacted her to ask if her son had also been subject to the same treatment.

A said she was shocked when her son admitted he had been restrained by the older students.

She decided to ask at the school, which is in Map Phai sub-district. The teacher said the children were “just playing” and wanted to try it out. However, A insists the kids were not playing, and her son did not want to try it.

She said the school has many foreign students from Cambodia and Myanmar, outnumbering Thais. The school, she said, accepts students from neighbouring countries who are older but study together.

She understands the school wants to provide a better future for the migrant children, but she thinks they should “screen” children better because not all kids are the same. She was also unsure about the behaviour of children from neighbouring countries and how they play.

A said the parents of the offending children had not contacted her, and nor had school called them in for a chat. The school had, however, offered to install additional CCTV cameras to monitor student behaviour.

The older students, A said, took advantage of a time when no one was watching to invite her son to play inappropriately, without him knowing whether it was appropriate or not.

Other parents, she said, remarked that their sons, also in Grade 1, had encountered older school students who offered them candy in the bathroom, saying, “Do you want some candy?” The children ran away and refused to participate.

The term “candy” is slang among inmates, meaning the kids were about to be initiated, reports said. Accepting the candy implies one must engage in sexual activities.

The Office of the Basic Education Commission (Obec) ordered an investigation. Ban Bueng police, meanwhile, said the issue is a sensitive one involving children aged under 15, requiring an investigation with multidisciplinary teams.

They urged parents to set a good example. They will summon the parents of the foreign children for counselling.

And that’s ‘Cut!’

Chutipong’s car, which he took ‘drifting’ around corners.

A man in Chiang Mai suffering from stress decided to practise “drifting” at speed around city street corners to help work off his tensions.

Locals alerted Chang Phuak police after seeing the white Suzuki sedan taking street corners at high speed in Muang district. He would tackle a corner, stop and take off again as if performing a stunt in a movie.

Police caught up with Chutipong (no surname provided), 40, outside a convenience store in Suthep sub-district, when he admitted driving recklessly.

He said several problems had come to a head so he decided to take his car out drifting to work off stress.

He said he was a fan of Dominic “Dom” Toretto, a fictional character in the Fast & Furious franchise played by Vin Diesel.

Chutipong

He had been practising drifting (making controlled skids through a turn), Dom-style, for about a month but wanted to try it on city streets rather than a racetrack because it was more exciting.

After being caught, he expressed remorse and apologised to motorists.

However, he said he would continue to drift, albeit in safe locations that wouldn’t disturb others.

Pol Col Winitchai Pinitsak, head of Chang Phuak police, said a medical check found no drugs in his system and no psychiatric history, suggesting it was a personal preference.

However, racing on public roads was illegal and unacceptable. Police charged Chutipong with reckless driving, operating a vehicle without regard for safety, using a vehicle without a licence plate, and driving without a valid driver’s licence.

He spent his first night in a holding cell as he was denied bail.

On day two, police set bail at 50,000 baht while waiting for further medical documents. They said they would ask the Chiang Mai District Court to order confiscation of Chutipong’s vehicle as his behaviour posed a danger on the road.

Parents shoot up rivals; kickboxer fantasy; getaway horse

 Shooter spoils mums’ slap fest

A man flees the scene after drawing his weapon.

A fight by two Chon Buri mothers to settle accounts on behalf of their feuding teenage daughters turned into a chaotic shoot-out after a supporter pulled out a gun and started firing into the crowd.

The mothers gathered for a one-on-one slap fest (as news reports put it). Video footage shows parents who gathered to support the pair fleeing for their lives as shots rang out during the exchange, which lasted several minutes and left three people injured, one of them critical.

The Feb 2 fight was sparked by a simmering row between two girls, aged 13 and 14, over repayment of a small loan, and was taken up by their parents on the girls’ behalf following a police complaint.

The gathering took place near the railway road before the entrance to Siam Country Club in Bang Lamung district. Shell casings from three different calibre weapons were found, among at least 10 shots fired in all.

Two protagonists, one from each side, turned themselves in to police following the shoot-out.

The first was Kittisak “Nut” Thongphet, 36, father of the 14-year-old, who brought along his 9mm automatic firearm.

Police at the scene.

He said he pulled it out to defend himself after the other side started firing first.

Shortly after, the man he identified as the first shooter, Ekkachai, or Pao, 30 (no surname given), a member of the 13-year-old’s party, turned himself in, bringing along a slide shotgun with five rounds.

A man identified as Mo, a mediator between both groups of adults, and uncle of Nut’s daughter, said supporters on both sides were told to stay out of the fight as the mothers duked it out.

However, Pao, whom he agreed was the first to pull out a firearm, started firing, and the other side responded in kind.

News reports identified the teenage girls on whose behalf the mothers were to fight as Na, 13, and Bow, 14 (assumed names).

The girls were once friends but fell out when one asked for the return of a loan. Their friends took sides, culminating in online exchanges in which the youngsters abused each others’ parents.

The girls agreed to a fight by a local fish pond, but when the 13-year-old proved no match for the older girl’s strength, her mother, identified as “Amm” in news reports, stepped in and attacked the other girl by pulling her hair, dragging her on the ground, slamming her face against her knee, and stomping on her, news reports said.

The mother of the 14-year-old, identified as Giff (assumed name), said she found out about the attack when the other side sent a video mocking her daughter.

“I felt angry because I could not understand why an adult over 30 years old would attack my teenage daughter,” she said.

Giff complained to Bang Lamung police about the assault. Na’s mother later contacted her, and the two sides arranged to meet.

When they arrived at the meeting point, both sides agreed that Giff and Amm, the mothers, would fight one-on-one. However, their supporters started arguing and the man identified as Pao started firing.

Speaking to police, Nut said he was confident that he only hit one man (Pao, shot in the leg).

Pao, he said, pulled out his gun first and shot at him twice. Nut said he managed to duck and pulled out his own weapon. Pao was shot in the right leg as he ran away, but kept firing into the crowd.

Among those caught in the mayhem was Maew (assumed name), 16, who was fuzzy about the cause of the conflict, but knew parents from both sides had arranged to meet and “negotiate”.

She estimated there were 3-4 guns involved, and their owners began firing indiscriminately. “I was terrified and could only run and drop to the ground, but one of the shooters kept aiming his gun at me,” she said.

“I raised my hands in a gesture of surrender, saying I was uninvolved. The shooter turned away and fled,” she added, recalling her ordeal.

After the shooting died down and both sides dispersed, police were called.

Rescue workers tended to three individuals at the scene: Panicha (surname withheld), 36, who was shot in the left arm and required 10 stitches; Pao, the man shot in the right leg; and Thanyawan (surname withheld), 35, who suffered a serious injury to the back of her head when a bullet entered the windscreen of a Honda Civic she was in.

When reporters visited the scene they found a few other bullet casings scattered about, and bullet holes in a nearby shop.

Mo, the mediator who arranged the meeting, said the row should have been left for the teens to fix themselves.

“It is unacceptable for adults to harm children,” he added, referring to Amm’s attack at the fish pond. “If anyone’s child were treated like that, they wouldn’t accept it either.”

Gift, mother of 14-year-old Bow, said Na’s parents had refused to mediate following her police complaint.

Her husband brought a gun because he understood the other side would also be armed, too.

Police charged both suspects with attempted murder and firearms charges. They posted bail of 300,000 baht each.

Any boxing ring will do

A policeman puts the wall back together.

A former rural boxer high on meth called on his training to break a block wall in a police holding cell, though it didn’t get him any closer to freedom.

Police in Udon Thani nabbed suspect “S”, 33, a former kickboxer well known in his day, for stealing 600 baht from a grocery store in Nong Phai sub-district, Muang, on Jan 29.

The store’s CCTV captured him in the act, and police with long memories say they recognised S “instantly” when they saw the clip, said Non Sung sub-district police deputy inspector Pol Lt Col Udomchok Singhakulsiri.

S used to bet on fights at local festivals and events and was no mean boxer himself, he said. However, he appears to have fallen on hard times.

When police caught up with S at his home on Jan 30, he was sitting outside taking speed pills.

At the station he started acting erratically and spoke incoherently — exhibiting the signs of a man possessed, news reports said — so police placed him in a holding cell.

S, who was hallucinating, imagined he was once again back in the boxing ring. CCTV footage showed him shadowboxing in his empty cell, complete with knee strikes and elbow strikes.

He also performed a boxing dance including a wai kru ceremony. In an impassioned moment he kicked the walled toilet area inside the cell, breaking a concrete block.

Police decided that intervening might bring danger to both parties, so just watched from outside the cell. “As long as he wasn’t hurting himself, we left him to it,” Pol Lt Col Udomchok said.

The next day, as the effects of the meth wore off, S regained his senses and apologised.

Police forgave him and learned that he had been boxing since the age of 13 and stopped at 20.

After that, he dropped out of the boxing scene, before being nabbed for the theft.

Officers said they would not bring charges for damaging the block wall and would repair it themselves.

“He feels remorseful and acted under the influence,” Pol Lt Col Udomchok said. S was charged with theft and drugs offences.

Hi-yo Silver, away!

A squatter tries to flee on horseback.

A squatter in Chon Buri tried to flee a confrontation with police and personnel from a nearby naval base on horseback, forcing police to give chase.

Sattahip police on Feb 3 turned up at a makeshift shelter which a family of squatters had built on private land after they flouted a court order booting them off the site.

The family claimed squatter’s rights over the land, on which they had built the shelter, toilet, a vegetable garden, and were raising three horses.

The owner had earlier gone to court to evict suspects Phonpong, 42, Rahat, 41 (no surnames given), and their daughter B (assumed name), 16, but they ignored the order.

News reports say they threatened police with a chainsaw the first time they turned up at the site in Village 8 of Bang Saray in Sattahip district.

After being charged with trespass and released on bail, they went back to squatting on the land, forcing police to return.

Police negotiated for hours, without success. Sattahip police chief Pol Col Thanapol Klinkaesorn feared officers would need support so contacted the naval base.

Capt Sophon Kowit-isriya, commander of the 2nd Naval Police Battalion, sent over 15 naval police armed with guns, shields, and batons to surround the area.

Phonpong made a dash for it on one of his horses, though police were able to catch him. That led to further talks, and his eventual surrender.

Phonpong is in a relationship with Rahat, who has a daughter, A, from a previous relationship, reports said.

They were charged with flouting the court order, after the earlier arrests for trespass. The case continues.

Contract hit fails; ungrateful son; naughty fire-starter

Comically bad killers

A policeman and victim on the road.
 

A gang nabbed for a supposed contract kill which went comically wrong say the motive, which police have yet to pin down, was actually robbery.

Metropolitan Police, along with their counterparts from Thung Khru station in Bangkok, last week nabbed three men and a woman for the attack.

The woman acted as a decoy luring Sutthikiat “Eang” Rojanakongyu, 33, who allegedly ratted on the gang to police, to a meeting place in Thung Khru district.

Her three male companions, who sprang an ambush on the victim, intended to kill him, after their gang leader, according to some reports, complained he was robbed of 100,000 baht and decided to seek revenge.

Mr Sutthikiat arranged a rendezvous with the woman, Suphattra Sripharama, 26, who befriended him on Facebook several days before and sent him the location.

He liked the look of her and the two agreed to meet with Mr Sutthikiat taking along his mate Mr Pongsakorn for the ride.

The Jan 26 attack took place on Soi Charoensuk along Kanchanaphisek Road (the Bangkok Outer Ring Road). The three male suspects, who admitted the attack, were identified as Noppadol “Jui” Chaisri, his brother Noppakun “Aof” Chaisri, and Sattaya “Kan” Sonnklin.

When Mr Sutthikiat and his mate arrived on their motorbike they found Ms Suphattra waiting. She asked which one she had been talking to on FB, and Mr Sutthikiat put up his hand.

“As soon as I identified myself, shots started ringing out, and her three companions sprang out from hiding in the bushes,” Mr Sutthikiat, who escaped injury, told police.

The attack didn’t go as planned, as the men shot Mr Pongsakorn by mistake, even after Mr Sutthikiat, the intended target, had identified himself.

Some news reports suggested Mr Sutthikiat was linked to the robbery of the 100,000 baht from the gang’s leader, “A”.

Others, however, suggested Mr Sutthikiat had given evidence to police about A’s drug activities, and he decided to silence him by ordering a hit. The gang was to be paid 10,000 baht for the job upon completion and a 100 baht daily food allowance.

The three men, members of A’s gang, are said to have recruited the woman to befriend the target on social media and lure him to a dark spot for the kill.

Regardless, Mr Sutthikiat was able to flee into the back of a nearby banana grove when the shots rang out.

His friend Pongsakorn was shot in the thigh and fell to the ground. The gang set about beating him with a baseball bat and knuckle dusters, before Mr Pongsakorn exclaimed: “I’ve been shot! I can’t take it any more,” prompting them to stop hitting and switch to kicking him instead.

A discarded knife and knuckle duster were among weapons recovered at the scene.

When a bystander intervened during the attack, the attackers fled on a couple of motorcycles, and the victims contacted police.

In her rush to flee, decoy Ms Suphattra left her purse behind including her ID card.

Police found a blue Honda Wave motorcycle used in the crime was registered to a man named Beer.

He said the four suspects turned up at his place at 2am on the day of the crime and asked to borrow his motorcycle, promising to return it in an hour.

Police tracked down the four suspects, searching their homes.

Ms Suphattra, who turned herself in to police the day after the attack, tried to divert the narrative, police say, claiming Mr Sattaya (Kan) was her ex-boyfriend and had become jealous when he found out she was talking to another man on FB.

Police, however, discarded the jealous lover motive, as too much evidence pointed elsewhere. They also sought arrest warrants for the three men, eventually catching up with them.

As the suspects were escorted for a crime reconstruction on Wednesday, a Channel 7 reporter asked Kan about the contract kill theory.

He denied the gang was paid for a contract hit, saying his boss A had asked them to attack Mr Sutthikiat because A was robbed of 100,000 baht. No further details of the supposed robbery were given.

Pol Col Jumphon Sinsiripong, superintendent of Thung Khru police, said police had filed five charges, including conspiracy to commit bodily harm, conspiracy to commit murder, and firearms charges. The case continues.

Tale of woe exposed

A Bangkok youngster 'B'.

A Bangkok youngster’s claims on social media that his mother had abandoned him, forcing him to live a life of hardship with grandparents, has come undone after a cousin and then his own mother rejected the claims.

The tear-jerker video post on TikTok left by “B”, 20, attracted more than 20 million views, news reports said.

B said his mother had abandoned him to start a new family overseas. He had put himself through school and struggled to make ends meet. His video was accompanied by images of his living in hardship with grandparents, who took him in when his mother left.

“I have grown up with my grandparents since I was a child, working to support myself through school. My mother has a new family with a foreign man abroad,” he said, adding: “In this life, my mother chose him. In the next life, my mother will choose me. I don’t want anything from my mother, I just want her to think of me.”

B's mother with her new family.

Netizens expressed sympathy for the young man, and many criticised his mother.

Writing on Facebook, a fed-up cousin, however, said he was upset to see the post, and doesn’t know what motivated B to make such claims.

“The woman in the picture is my aunt. The truth is that this boy is addicted to gambling and playing slot machines. He doesn’t work and asks his mother and relatives for money.

“When he couldn’t get money from his mother, he fabricated this story to slander her. She has been supporting him all along.

“She sends him money for school, but he refuses to study. He found a job at a chicken rice shop with his brother in Ubon Ratchathani, but would not wake up in time for work.

“He ended up living with his grandmother, not helping out, while his grandparents were working in the fields. He just lies around playing on his phone and gambling,” he said.

B’s mother, identified as “Fon”, also spoke out. She told Khao Sod newspaper that she and her Australian husband had recently returned to Thailand and wanted B to live with them.

She had tried to get her son to live with her in Australia, but could not overcome bureaucratic red tape.

She also sent him money regularly, though not the 2,000-3,000 baht he wanted every week, as she knows he has a gambling problem. She has pleaded with him to quit the habit, but he refuses.

She had also sent him to a private school in Chiang Rai, but he refused to study, and seemed to lack interest in the rice chicken shop job paying 600 baht a day. When he failed to turn up his boss grew so fed up he called her.

“My son blocked relatives who call, and I have been trying to call him to find out what happened,” she said, referring to the TikTok sympathy post.

“I also want to tell society that no mother does not love her own child,” Ms Fon said. No response was available from the young man.

Choking on uncle’s miseeds

An old man quickly grabs a bunch of banana leaves to extinguish the fire.

A Bangkok man who moved North to escape polluted air shamed an older man in his neighbourhood who burns corn stubble year-round regardless of locals’ complaints.

Siwat (no surname given), who now lives in Chiang Rai, said he had reached his limit with the old man, who lives in the area but was unidentified in news reports.

Siwat said the old man, referred to as referred to as “uncle” in news reports, burns corn stalks around his Mae Sai district housing development all year, making it hard to breathe and leaving ashes scattered about his house.

He had moved away from the capital to breathe fresh air, only to be met with the constant smoke nuisance, he complained on social media.

After talking to the old man, who carried on regardless, he decided to film him lighting fires.

The old man, who was presumably aware of the PM2.5 nuisance (the government has since put in place a ban on open-air burning), quickly grabbed a bunch of banana leaves to extinguish the fire.

Siwat said he had bought land in the area six years ago and was living there with his partner.

The old man planted corn in vacant areas around the housing development in San Sai Pu Yi, burning it throughout the year, which annoyed homeowners. However, no one wanted to confront him.

Siwat said flames from the old man’s fires come dangerously close to his property, and ashes float into his home.

Unsure of how to deal with the fire menace, he decided to post the video of the old man’s antics to social media, which led to many comments criticising the old man.

Reports were unclear as to whether he is still at it.

Learning at druggie Dad’s knee; pod puzzle; picky jogger thief

They start early, these days

Sutthipong 'Lek' Wangthong and his son are taking drugs.

An Udon Thani father agreed to share his meth pill supply with his 12-year-old son because he asked to join him.

Police in Muang district arrested Sutthipong Wangthong, or “Lek”, 40, after he took drugs and taught his son how to indulge in the habit.

He allowed his son, Bas, to try meth because the boy wanted to experiment and asked for permission, Mr Sutthipong told police.

“The first time we took drugs, I sent him to buy five pills from a neighbour, which we shared equally,” he said.

They carried on taking them together, he said, with Bas later confirming his father’s account.

Earlier, Bas’s stepmother, Manida Chammasi, or Jib, 46, contacted activist Guntouch Pongpaiboonwet, or Gun Jom Phalang, about her husband’s conduct.

 Sutthipong's son is taking drugs.

She sent him a video of her husband and the boy taking drugs which she secretly recorded on Dec 16. She said her husband had also assaulted them both.

At the end of the year, her stepson suddenly went missing from home, she said.

“When I asked my husband where Bas was, he replied he had sent him to become a novice monk but did not disclose which temple,” she added.

When she pressed him for information, he lost his temper and assaulted her, leading to her being thrown out of the house.

After watching the clip, Gun Jom Phalang’s team contacted the deputy governor, Udon Thani mayor, police, and a children’s home.

They visited the boy’s house in Mak Khaeng sub-district but found no one there. A cleaner said she often heard arguments but had seen no occupants for several days.

The search team later tracked down the boy’s grandfather, who lives about 3km away.

He said he had sent Bas to stay with a monk at Wat Sawang Pho Si in Khon Kaen’s Nong Ruea district about 10 days before because he feared for the boy’s future if he remained with his drug-addicted father.

The search team called the temple’s abbot, who said Bas was doing well.

When the boy came on the phone, he confirmed his father had let him take drugs and had assaulted him in the past with a broomstick. The head injury needed five stitches.

His grandfather, who felt sorry for Bas, sent him to stay with the monk, although he had not yet been ordained.

Udon Thani police, meanwhile, caught Mr Sutthipong, whose wife, the complainant, brought him in to surrender.

The two had gone into hiding at a friend’s place for a few days after the wife, regretting her decision to alert authorities about the plight of the boy, took pity on her husband.

As publicity grew, however, she had a change of heart and persuaded him to give up.

Mr Sutthipong expressed remorse and forgave his wife for seeking help from the activist.

He admitted hitting Bas with a broomstick, saying the boy was disobedient and did not listen to him.

Police said charges would be laid when the probe was complete. Bas was sent for a medical check, and the wife was to be kept as a witness.

Officers also searched the house of the neighbour who supplied the drugs. They found drug taking gear and a pen gun, but no one home. They have called him in for questioning.

Friends from hell

The mother with the Sai Mai support group.

A Bangkok mother is urging police to take action after her 13-year-old daughter was raped and drugged, leaving her incapacitated.

“B” (assumed name), 30, contacted the “Sai Mai Must Survive” support group about the plight of her daughter, “Aom” (assumed name), who she says took drugs at a friend’s place and was sexually assaulted there by an adult.

Family members admitted her after finding her unconscious at the friend’s place on Dec 24. Doctors found a potent mix of cannabis, ketamine and heroin in Aom’s system.

The group’s head, Ekapop Lueangprasert, who took the mother before the media, asked police to probe whether Aom had ingested the drugs via an e-cigarette, or so-called pod K.

The pods contain a mixture of vape juice and ketamine now popular among clubbers. The government, alarmed about their potency, last week vowed to stamp out the pods’ spread.

Mr Ekapop said e-cigarette pods laced with drugs were spreading rapidly in the Thung Song Hong and Don Muang areas, and B may have ingested a potent mix of drugs via e-cigarette while staying at the house.

B said her daughter had been lured by an older friend at school to the house, drugged, and raped. “My daughter is in a state of fear, unable to walk or sit by herself, even after a 20-day hospital stay,” she said.

B said her daughter left home on Dec 24 around 9pm, saying she was going to see friends.

A girl (some news reports say a boy), aged 15, picked her up and took her to the house in Lak Si district, which she barely knew.

A father lived there with his wife and two stepchildren, a boy aged 15 and a younger girl, she said.

B said she was able to contact her daughter initially and at 2am, Aom said she was heading home. However, she never arrived.

A frantic B spent two days searching for her daughter and was finally able to contact the student who picked her up.

She said Aom was at a friend’s house and asked her mother to pick her up because she was not feeling well.

Aom’s grandmother went to pick her up, but found Aom unconscious, weak, and unable to help herself.

Aom’s grandmother rushed her to the hospital, where doctors reported finding multiple drugs in her system, including ketamine, marijuana, and heroin. They also confirmed she had been sexually assaulted.

After a 20-day stay, Aom had regained consciousness but still needed to be supported when walking to therapy. She was in fear and unable to talk, her mother said.

The older friend said she was not with Aom the whole time she was at the house. She returned home but visited the house later to check on Aom.

When she went back to pick her up, Aom appeared to be intoxicated. When she returned the next day, she found her unconscious and unable to speak coherently.

B tried to ask her daughter about the incident, showing her pictures of the occupants of the house.

Aom pointed to a man, the older friend’s father, according to some reports, suggesting he may have been involved in giving her drugs and the sexual assault.

B said the perpetrators had since threatened the older friend who took her, instructing her to say she was with Aom the entire time.

The older friend had gone to ask the perpetrators about the incident and secretly recorded their conversation, when they told her not to tell B the truth of what happened, she said.

Afterward, they confiscated the older friend’s phone and deleted the audio recordings.

The perpetrators had also contacted B and her mother, asking about Aom’s condition, and visited her in the hospital.

They claimed the older friend was with Aom the entire time and there was no need to worry, as she was just high on marijuana.

Contacted for comment, Thung Song Hong police said they were planning to call in the house’s occupants later in the week. The case continues.

No run-of-the-mill jogger

The robber disguised as the jogger.

A thief disguised as a jogger was picky about which items he stole from a wealthy Nonthaburi home, taking only the most valuable amulets and leaving behind a .38 handgun.

Interior designer Kanin “Kan” Kotsawityanon, 30, contacted Rattanathibet police after coming home from work on Jan 17 and finding the items missing.

He said the enterprising thief, disguised as a jogger so as to not arouse attention in the well-to-do neighbourhood, made off with valuables worth more than 1 million baht.

The offender broke into Mr Kanin’s family home in Tha Sai subdistrict, taking tens of thousands of baht in cash, gold jewellery, diamond pieces, and well-known amulets belonging to his father, he said.

The intruder did not touch a .38 calibre handgun or over 200 newer amulets which were also kept at the house, taking only well-known amulets, such as those of Luang Pu Thuat and Luang Pu Toh, which had been passed down by his family for decades.

CCTV images showed the offender, wearing workout pants and a blue shirt, walking past the two-storey house several times as he scouted out the joint.

Satisfied no one was at home, he climbed over the fence before prying open a window screen on the side to gain access to the upstairs bedrooms.

After stealing the items, the thief fled on foot before disappearing from the camera’s view.

The village has several luxury homes, each worth tens of millions of baht, including those of comedian “Tua Rae Chernyim” Sornsutha Klunmalee, who had been robbed previously, Mr Kanin said. A few houses away is the home of actor Patiparn “Mos” Patavekarn.

This village is a high-end European-style community but lacks security personnel, he said, making it a target for criminals. Mr Kanin said he was fortunate no one was home at the time the house was robbed. Police are investigating.

Barely out of boyhood; GPS sleuth; pit bull surprise

Young life snuffed out

The scene of the nighttime stabbing.

A Nakhon Si Thammarat teenager’s bid to avenge his girlfriend’s trampled honour led to his untimely death on Children’s Day.

Hua Sai police last week arrested a teenager for the Jan 11 fatal stabbing of Nong Itt, or Pupadin (no surname given), 14, which took place on the Nakhon Si Thammarat-Songkhla bypass road in front of a restaurant.

The victim was riding a motorcycle with his girlfriend when they arrived at the eatery. Two youngsters, aged 29 and 14 (no names given), the teenager previously a close friend of the victim’s, followed them on a saleng and called on him to stop.

They confronted Itt and stabbed him in the left side of the chest with a sharp object before fleeing. Itt was taken to hospital but died later from his injuries.

The stabbing followed a confrontation between Itt and the 14 year-old suspect earlier in the day.

The suspect came across Itt and his girlfriend at a Children’s Day event held by the municipality. The suspect brazenly asked if he could touch his girlfriend’s breasts, which upset the couple. It also stunned TV news presenters covering the tragedy, with one asking incredulously, “Is this what things have come to, teens walking up and asking if they can grope each other?”

Itt later enlisted the help of an older friend to track down the 14 year-old suspect to confront him about his request.

Itt kicked the suspect once and the suspect fled. That was the extent of their confrontation, Itt’s mother says, but the suspect, his pride wounded, later asked the 29 year-old to accompany him on his motorbike as they tracked down Itt for a reprisal beating.

They found Itt and his friend outside the eatery that night when the fatal stabbing ensued. The 14 year-old suspect handed himself in to police the next day.

He admitted stabbing Itt following their misunderstanding. Police were proceeding with legal action against him as a minor, news reports said, and tracking down his 29-year-old accomplice.

Earlier that evening, Itt was having a meal with his family when he asked his mother if could go out again. Fatefully, perhaps, she agreed, and a few hours later her son was dead.

His grieving mother said she spoke to Itt’s friends at Wat Khok Phikun temple where his relatives gathered for the lad’s funeral about the events of that day. Her son and his girlfriend, she said, were waiting near the eatery for another friend when the suspects approached and attacked him.

The mother said her son was no troublemaker, but rather a typical teenager who had never been involved in serious fights. “He was still a child. I don’t know how they could do such a thing,” she said in tears.

She had struggled to come to terms with what happened, as she thinks that allowing her son to attend the Children’s Day event was akin to permitting him to go to his death.

The family of the perpetrator had not come forward to apologise, even though she knew the boy’s grandmother. The police probe continues.

Jealous wife seeks revenge

Jitra

The jealous wife of a Nakhon Sawan man tracked down his vehicle via GPS and shot him to death in front of his startled parents.

Krok Phra police nabbed Jitra (no surname given), 49, for slaying her husband Sarawut (no surname given), 44, with a .38 calibre revolver.

News reports say she travelled from Chon Buri where she works, tracking her husband via GPS. The pair had argued previously over his relationship with a woman he met in Bangkok.

Sarawut had asked his wife of 10 years over New Year if they could break up, but she refused. He was working in Bangkok and it is unclear how often he and his Jitra met. In any event, Sarawut had met someone else and had moved in with her, the reports say.

Sarawut

Jitra, who claims she found out about her husband’s infidelity thanks to the GPS tracker she quietly installed on his car, confronted him about the relationship and they argued.

Later, he took leave from work and drove to his parents’ place in Nakhon Sawan. She followed him without his knowledge, and turned up asking to clear the air.

Sarawut’s mother said she was suspicious about her motives and searched her daughter-in-law for weapons, but omitted to search the front of her pants.

Sarawut’s father was sitting between them at the table as the two tried to settle matters. However, Jitra decided she’d had enough, pulled out her concealed weapon and shot her husband twice in the ribs and the back of his head, killing him.

She then tried turning the weapon on herself, but the victim’s father swatted the gun from her hand. They called the police, who arrested her.

Reporters pursuing the story later found relatives visiting Jitra at the station.

Asked about the shooting, Jitra’s relatives, who sounded remarkably unsympathetic about the victim’s plight, suggested they ask Sarawut’s family what he had done to provoke such anger.

Pol Lt Col Thakrit Yodsutthi, a deputy investigator, said police charged the suspect with premeditated murder and firearms offences.

The firearm used in the incident was registered and borrowed from a friend, who police would track down for questioning, he said.

That old dog faeces trick

Two of Natthapol’s six dogs.

Police in Bangkok faced down six aggressive pit bulls as they searched the house of a known drug dealer who had gone back to his old trade after his most recent spell in jail.

Hua Mak police confronted the barking dogs and navigated piles of dog waste to arrest Natthapol, or “Bees”, (no surname given), 26, at his house in Bang Kapi.

Upon arrival, officers found a single-storey wooden house surrounded by a fence. Inside, they encountered two aggressive male pit bulls, along with several other dogs which were not pleased to see them.

The team called for the homeowner to open the door, secure the dogs and let them conduct the search pursuant to their court warrant obtained earlier.

As they entered, several officers stepped in dog waste scattered through the house, with the smell permeating the area and dogs barking loudly, reports said.

Natthapol took the officers to his methamphetamine stash, divided into bags containing 2,000 pills each, hidden under the floor at three spots in the house, or 6,000 pills in total.

Natthapol outside his house

They also found 50 zip bags, one dog food bag, and 2,060 baht in cash earned from drug sales, along with one mobile phone.

Under questioning, Natthapol, who has a lengthy history of offending, said he was first nabbed for drug dealing when he was 14, and had served two prison sentences since: the first for 18 months, the second nine months.

After his release, he returned to dealing, sourcing methamphetamine from a person named “Ees” at a mosque in Wang Yai for 20,000 baht per batch, and selling it to customers in the community for 50 baht per pill.

He had made such sales 5-6 times, using contacts to place the drugs at various spots for customers to pick up.

Regarding the pit bulls, three males and three females, all aged six, Natthapol claimed he raised them for sale at 5,000 baht each. However, police were sceptical, as neighbours reported he kept the dogs for personal use, not for sale.

Police suspect he really used them to guard the house and to mask the smell of the methamphetamine with their faeces. He was charged with drug offences.