KANCHANABURI: A Karen hunter who was arrested in the Sai Yok National Park on Wednesday was not a soldier of the Karen National Union as he earlier claimed, according to authorities.
Satu, 26, was arrested in a forest of the national park in tambon Wang Krachae of Sai Yok district about 3km from the Thai-Myanmar border, with smoked carcasses of a bearcat and a macaque, as well as rifles and ammunition. At first, he claimed to be a KNU soldier hunting for food on the Thai soil together with two other soldiers.
Later, Chaiwat Limlikit-aksorn, a senior official of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, wrote on the department's website that a KNU leader arrived at the Sai Yok police station on Thursday to see the suspect. That was when Satu confessed he was not one of them.
The suspect was a hunter who caught wild animals for sale. He claimed to be a KNU soldier in the hopes Thai park rangers would free him given their close ties with KNU, Mr Chaiwat wrote.
Pol Col Wanchai Onla-or, chief of the Sai Yok station, said on Friday that Satu and two other hunters were villagers from Dawei and hunted for a living.