CHUMPHON : A police officer who emerged unscathed despite being shot four times during a drug bust says his life was spared because he was wearing a Buddhist amulet.
Pol Maj Apichart Chearapanich was shot four times when suspects opened fire on police during a sting operation on Tuesday in Lamae district.
Another officer, Pol Snr Sgt Maj Thammanoon Nokkhao, was also shot and wounded, while one of the suspects was killed.
Suspect Tinnakorn Boonmak, 25, fled after being shot but was later found dead in a rubber plantation 300m from the Lamae-Khao Chamod road, where the gunfight took place.
Pol Maj Apichart was miraculously unhurt despite being shot four times.
The bullets which hit him were thought to be duds, which travelled too slowly to injure him.
He said he was wearing a Khun Phantarak Ratchadej amulet at the time and believes this was what granted him such good luck.
Pol Maj Apichart said police had planned a sting operation to buy speed pills from a drug gang, with Tinnakorn as their contact.
After the deal was agreed, a police informant drove a car, with Tinnakorn as a passenger, to the spot where the drugs were to be delivered. Another four suspected drug dealers then showed up in a pickup truck.
When they handed the drugs to the informant, police officers swooped to arrest them, prompting the suspects to open fire.
The officers fired back, mortally wounding Tinnakorn, while the other suspects managed to flee.
About 400 methamphetamine pills were seized at the scene.