Yala - The body of a man who was shot and abducted by armed men on Tuesday night was found dumped in a ditch near a paddy field in Muang district late on Wednesday morning.
The body of Adisorn Sukkhakhen, 24, was identified by relatives.
Adisorn and two other men were travelling in a black pickup truck that was flagged down and held up by seven or eight men wearing black and carrying guns and traffic batons, on a road in tambon Lammai on Tuesday night.
They were forced out the vehicle, lined up and shot. The other two men tried to flee but received head wounds and were left lying on the road.
The gang drove off in the hijacked pickup, taking a severely wounded Adisorn with them. His body was found late on Wednesday morning after an extensive search in a ditch by a paddy field outside a village some kilometres down the road.
Pol Col Kritsada Kaewchandee, deputy chief of Yala police, ordered investigators to examine footage of surveillance cameras along roads leading to the paddy field, in the hope of tracking the gang's movements.
Police gave no motive for the holdup and apparent abduction.