SONGKHLA: A Myanmar plantation worker fled into the trees, leaving behind his wife and three illegal shotguns, when officials approached to search their hut in Sadao district.
Soldiers and local officials raided the shack, at a rubber plantation in tambon Samnak Kham in Sadao district, on Tuesday. They were acting on information that some Myanmar workers in the area had firearms and used them to hunt wildlife. Local residents were uneasy about this.
Col Thanitpon Hongwilai, the local army commander, and Sadao district chief Surin Suriyawong led the operation.
As they approached, a man ran out of the hut and into the rubber plantation. Two women were found inside. They searched the shack and then a nearby rubber processing factory, where they uncovered three hidden shotguns.
One of the women was identified as Chao Aye, 21, a Myanmar national. According to police, she admitted under questioning that the three guns belonged to her husband Maung Dai Ta Chai, who had fled on seeing the team approaching.
The other woman was also from Myanmar. She was aged 21 and had been working illegally in Thailand for eight years.
Both women were being held in police custody.
The three shotguns found during the search. (Photo supplied/ Assawin Pakkawan)