NARATHIWAT: A former village head was shot dead on the way to a local tea shop after returning from a village mosque in Sungai Padi district on Wednesday night.
Arseng Madeeya, 56, was gunned down on Charusathian Road along Sungai Padi-Cho Airong route in tambon Torteng, said Pol Lt Theerapong Pimpa, a deputy investigation chief at Sungai Padi police station, who was reported at around 8pm.
The slain victim, who was an ex-assistant Bue Ra-ngae village head, was shot three times in the head and body. He was lying in a pool of blood near a motorcycle.
Police and soldiers found seven spent M16 cartridges scattered over the area.
A police investigation found that Mr Arseng had worked at Kelantan in Malaysia and recently took leave to return home at Bue Ra-ngae village. Before the attack, he rode a motorcycle to go to a local mosque for prayers and later went to a village tea shop. On the way, an unknown number of armed men with M16 rifles ambushed him.
Rungruang Thimabut, chief of Sungai Padi district, said on Thursday that Mr Arseng had been expelled from the assistant village head post for his alleged involvement in the illicit drug trade. After that, he went to work in Malaysia before being shot dead.
Police were investigating.