A man has been arrested with seven war weapons, more than 8,000 rounds of ammunition and other items seized during a police raid on a house in Krathum Baen district of Samut Sakhon.
A team of officers from the Metropolitan Police Bureau (MPB) and local police in Samut Sakhon arrested a suspect identified only as Phatthakorn, 28, at his house in tambon Don Deekai on Friday night on charges of illegal possession of weapons and ammunition, said Pol Maj Gen Noppasil Poolsawat, deputy MPB commissioner.
Seized from the house were one M79 rifle, 6 AK rifles, 17 magazines and about 8,500 rounds of ammunition.
Pol Maj Gen Noppasil said MPB detectives had been keeping a close watch on a major weapons trading gang for a long time. An earlier search of a house belonging to the suspect arrested on Friday came up empty, he said.
The suspect faced charges of illegal possession of guns in an earlier case in Sai Noi district of Nonthaburi, said the deputy MPB commissioner.
On Friday night, police learned that that the gang was preparing to move some weapons. Officers staked out the suspect’s house in Samut Sakhon, where two suspect vehicles were parked. A search of the vehicles uncovered numerous weapons and ammunition.
During questioning, the suspect confessed the seized ammunition and weapons had been smuggled from Aranyaprathet in Sa Kaeo, near the border with Cambodia, and was being stored in Krathum Baen pending delivery to other locations. He claimed he had been paid 20,000 baht each time he smuggled weapons, police said.
Pol Maj Gen Noppasil said the investigation would be extended to find the mastermind of the operation.
