YALA: Groups of armed men dressed like soldiers and rangers robbed village headmen and defence volunteers of seven guns in several districts of this southern border province on Tuesday night.
At 8.30pm, about 10 armed men – with faces covered and dressed like soldiers – robbed defence volunteers at their station in Ban Krong Pinang of Krong Pinang district. The group made off with a shotgun and two pistols.
At 9.30pm, seven similarly attired armed men showed up at a security booth in Ban Kue Tay village in Yaha district. They took two shotguns, a 9mm pistol and a communications radio.
At 10.30pm, 17 armed men dressed like paramilitary rangers took a shotgun from the house of the Ban Nam Yen village headman in Muang district.
About 15 minutes later, 10 armed men who looked like paramilitary rangers tried to commit a similar crime against defence volunteers in Ban Mor village of Muang district, but security volunteers successfully defended themselves in an exchange of gunfire.
Security sources said that the robberies might be in retaliation for authorities' recent raids and arrest of many security suspects. The robbers apparently wanted only to steal weapons and did not intend to take any lives, the sources said.