An intense police manhunt continues for a prisoner serving time for attempted murder who escaped from a hospital in Nakhon Si Thammarat early on Sunday, amid suspicions he may have already crossed into Malaysia.
The pickup truck that whisked Chaowalit Thongduang, 37, alias "Sia Paeng Nanod", away from the hospital has been found abandoned in Satun province, on the southern border.
The police team hunting the escapee found the getaway vehicle, which had Phatthalung licence plates, near a coastal pier and believed the prisoner had been heading for Malaysia, a police source said. He may already be there.
However, investigators were still not convinced he had left the country.
Chaowalit may have switched vehicles and the abandoned pickup left near the pier to misdirect searchers, Pol Col Thanisorn Saengthanang, chief of Satun immigration police, said on Tuesday.
Strict checks were still being made on vehicles leaving the country through Wang Prachan border checkpoint in Satun’s Khuan Don district, opposite Wang Kelian village in Perlis state of Malaysia.
A close watch was also in effect on two major piers popular with tourists, Tammalang and Bang Para, and 200 small piers along the coast. Photos of the escapee were handed out, he said.
Arrest warrants have also been approved for four people suspected of aiding his escape.
Chaowalit escaped from Maharat Nakhon Si Thammarat Hospital early on Sunday morning after being taken there for dental treatment on Friday and being kept in after he collapsed, reportedly complaining of severe leg pain.
According to police, two men identified only as Chalermphong and Chakkree were waiting in a pickup outside the hospital to pick him up. The same vehicle was later found abandoned at the pier in Satun.
The circumstances of his escape were suspicious. He had been chained to the bed and was wearing leg shackles, and two prison warders were assigned to guard him. He was not wearing the shackles when later seen in hospital security camera video during his early morning escape.
The Corrections Department has begun a fact-finding inquiry.
The Nakhon Si Thammarat Provincial Court has approved a police request for arrest warrants for five people in the case, including Chaowalit.The four others, two men and two woman, believed to have helped him are Jeerawut Chumsri, 31, Chakkree Paennoi, 41, Ms Wilawan Muenrak, 32, and Ms Yuwaret Kolsuek, 26.
Security camera recordings showed Mr Jeerawut entering the hospital building to allegedly help Chaowalit escape, and Mr Chakkree driving the pickup truck.
Ms Wilawan had been sitting in the hospital room where Chaowalit sought treatment before he escaped, and Ms Yuwaret allegedly hired Ms Wilawan to stay with the prisoner at the hospital. The two women have been detained. They both denied any involvement, police said.
Chaowalit was sentenced to 20 years and six months in jail last year by Phatthalung Court for attempted murders in connection with an armed attack on police during an attempted abduction on Sept 2, 2019, in Phatthalung province.
He began serving his sentence at Phatthalung Prison in January 2022 and was transferred to Nakhon Si Thammarat Prison on Aug 7 this year.
He also faces multiple other criminal charges, including murders. Most are still in the courts.
Prisoner Chaowalit Thongduang, 37, escaped from Maharat Nakhon Si Thammarat Hospital on Sunday. (Chaowalit Thongduang's Facebook)