A gunman who allegedly murdered four men at a remote school in Chian Yai district of Nakhon Si Thammarat province early on Sunday morning has been arrested, a police source said on Wednesday.
The alleged gunman was identified as Kollawat Sukraksa, 45, from the same district in the province.
He was apprehended on Wednesday at his home in Pak Phanang district. Police seized a gun allegedly used to kill the four men that was found at the house.
Police from the Crime Suppression Division (CSD) and Provincial Police Region 8 were today to take present suspect at a press conference at the Royal Thai Police Office in Bangkok, the source said.
Mr Kollawat is the most wanted person in Provincial Police Region 9, covering the southern provinces of Phatthalung, Songkhla, Satun and Trang.
He is also No.21 on the Royal Thai Police Office's overall "wanted" list.
He was previously arrested in January 2012 at a house in Bangkok's Bang Khae district over a murder in the South. The source said he did not know why the alleged killer walked free.
The source said the arrest of Mr Kollawat was led by Pol Col Phumin Pumpunmuang, superintendent of the CSD's Sub-Division 5, who travelled to gather information and evidence at the crime scene shortly after the shooting on Sunday.
The source said it is suspected the murder arose from a conflict of interest.
Police investigators were not convinced that Mr Kollawat was the sole gunman in the case and were making further inquiries, he said.
On Sunday morning the bullet-riddled bodies of four men were found in Ban Don Tanot School in tambon Sua Hueng in Chian Yai district of Nakhon Si Thammarat.
The bodies were next to an Isuzu pickup truck on a road near the old meeting hall inside the school's compound.
About 20 spent bullet shells were found nearby.
Three of the dead men were identified as Kriengkrai Chumthong, 47, of Nakhon Si Thammarat's Cha-uat district, Somchai Homkhao, from Phatthalung province, and Thawat Buathongkham, from Pak Phanang district in Nakhon Si Thammarat.
The other victim had not been identified.
Police believed the four were murdered by another group of men after they failed to settle an argument.
Villagers said they heard gunshots at the school about 3am.
The four deceased were thought to have been part of a gang of hired gunmen in Phatthalung involved in many illegal activities.
Pol Lt Col Chokdee Srimuang, deputy superintendent of Nakhon Si Thammarat police, had said earlier Kriengkrai was the accused hired gunman in the slaying of members of the family of the mayor of tambon Khao Chumthong municipality two years ago. The court case against him is continuing.