NAKHON RATCHASIMA: Police were hunting a drug dealer who shot an undercover agent on Wednesday and fled after realising he was caught in a sting operation in Khong district.
The policeman was seriously wounded and rushed to hospital.
Phadungsil Lohakart, 38, allegedly shot Pol Sub Lt Song Tuaykrathok, of Muang police station, who was posing as a buyer of crystal methamphetamine, after cottoning on it was a trap.
Two other police officers were waiting in a car nearby.
Pol Sub Lt Song was hit in the chest and right arm and was admitted to intensive care at Maharat Nakhon Ratchasima Hospital.
The suspect fled into a nearby 100-rai cassava plantation on Ban Leum Road in tambon Nong Bua. .
Extra police from Muang and Khong district quickly surrounded the plantation, but the suspect eluded them.
On Thursday morning the hunt was widened, with checkpoints set up on roads after local residents told police they saw an armed man walking through their village.