SONGKHLA: A young man arrested for stealing 80 bolts and fastening plates from a railway track allegedly told police he sold them to a scrap dealer for money to buy drugs.
The arrest came after an army patrol from the 5th Infantry Division reported on Monday afternoon that many bolts were missing from the rail track between Khlong Nage and Padang Besar near Tha Khoi, the Moo 3 village in tambon Padang Besar, Sadao district.
A closer check concluded that 80 bolts used to fasten rail joints had been removed.
Possible motives were sabotage or common theft with the bolts sold to scrap dealers.
Investigators began questioning junk shops in the area. At a shop owned by Krisna Pansaeng on Khao Rup Chang road in tambon Padang Besar, a security camera recording showed two youths arriving on a motorcycle and selling the stolen railway bolts.
Ong-art Phuakphong, 18, of Moo 3 village in tambon Padang Besar, was subsequently arrested. The other suspect was a 17-year-old from the same village.
Mr Ong-art allegedly admitted stealing the bolts and selling them for money to buy drugs. He was handed over to Padang Besar police for legal proceedings. Police were looking for the other suspect.