Hunt for escaped killer intensifies

Hunt for escaped killer intensifies

The hunt for escaped convicted murderer Surasak Sardsamai, who last week fled from Ratchaburi Hospital where he was sent to receive lymphoma treatment, has stepped up with the formal issuing of an arrest warrant on Tuesday.

Convicted killer Surasak Sardsamai,30, remains at large after escaping from Ratchaburi Hospital on Dec 12. (Photo Saichol Ochkajon)

Surasak, a convict serving a long sentence at Khao Bin Central Prison, a maximum security facility for drug offenders, disappeared from Ratchaburi hospital about 2am on Dec 12.

He is a convicted killer with a string of crimes also including drug dealing and theft, and classified as most dangerous. 

Pol Lt Saichon Korprasertsud, investigator handling the case, said on Tuesday that he had obtained procedural approval for an arrest warrant from Ratchaburi Provincial Court.

Footage from closed-circuit television cameras at the hospital showed a woman believed to be Ms Jitima Maneekarn, 37, one of Surasak’s three wives, arriving at the hospital about the time the prisoner went missing. 

Police will issue a summons requiring she appear to answer questions  about his escape and if she was involved.

Authorities said the escape was well planned. It is supected he arranged with relatives to provide a bolt cutter or file when he was sent to the hospital.

There were prison warders outside the prisoner's hospital  room. Surasak was chained and his shackles locked to the bed. The warders found he had gone when they entered his room for a routine check. The padlock attached to the patient’s bed had been severed. 

The Khao Bin Central Prison and Ratchaburi police have stepped up the hunt for the fugitive, with officers sent to the homes of his three wives, said Pol Lt Saichon, 

Although there had been no sign of him so far, they believed he was still  in Ratchaburi province.  

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