Police have spread a wide net in their search for three young men wanted over the brutal roadside murder of a member of a rival gang outside a restaurant in Kanchanaburi province last Sunday.
Pol Col Phitsut Sukrasorn, chief of Muang district police, said on Friday the hunt was on for Prin Pinroj, 18, Chai-anuwat Rodpai, 23, and Nitinai Watcharanuthat, 24. Their parents had been asked to convince them to surrender and Mr Prin and Mr Chai-anuwat were expected to turn themselves in soon.
They did not expect Nitinai to surrender because he had been convicted in another criminal case and later jumped bail.
Investigators believed the three suspects were hiding in Kanchanaburi. It was unlikely they would try to sneak into Myanmar because they had no contacts there.
Two suspects, Tin Tewakul, 21, and Paisarn Chanthametakulwat, 20, were arrested earlier this week, and Pongwit Thepkaweera, 22, surrendered on Thursday.
Pongwit was the leader of their gang, known as Chukkadon. The six were seen in surveillance camera footage beating Kritsada On-norm, 19, to death beside Saeng Chuto Road in Muang Kanchanaburi district on the night of Dec 6.
The victim was repeatedly hit with a wooden baton, a concrete ornament and other items.
The victim's male companion Peerapong Ruangchan, 22, was also beaten up but managed to escape.
The fatal assault occurred after members of two rival local gangs had reportedly eaten and drunk at a food shop on the side of the road.
According to police, Pongwit said the dead man was a member of the rival Taopoon gang, which had earlier fired shots at his gang.
Pongwit had been convicted of murder at the age of 16 and spent one year in a juvenile detention facility, police said. At the age of 19, he was accused of gunning down a rival, but was later acquitted.