PATHUM THANI — Police have arrested two suspected members of a debt-collection gang in connection with a shooting at a house in Thanyaburi district of Pathum Thani last week.
Wissanu Ampaiboon, 25, of Bang Bua Thong district, and Sompong Poonsuk, 30, of Bang Kruai district in Nonthaburi, were charged with attempted murder, possessing illegal weapons and using and carrying them in public without permits.
The two confessed that they were part of a 13-member gang of debt collectors for Wuthichai Pho-art, who operated an illegal money-lending operation, deputy police chief Pongsapat Pongcharoen told a news conference on Saturday.
The pair admitted to firing various weapons at the house of Kamlai Buakaew, 56, because she had failed to make debt repayments as scheduled despite repeated warnings. The house was riddled with bullet holes, but nobody was hurt.
Pol Gen Pongsapat said the two fled to Cambodia and were arrested while returning to the country via a checkpoint in Sa Kaeo province under warrants approved by the Thanyaburi Court on Oct 19.
Police brought the two suspects to the house in Pathum Thani on Saturday morning for a re-enactment of the crime.
Pol Gen Pongsapat said police were now looking for the other suspects and for the loan shark.