Pattani - Police have seized M16 rifles from a rubber plantation in Thung Yang Daeng district that were believed to have been used in an attack on a motorcycle patrol that left four soldiers dead and one injured.
Pol Col Kowit Rattanachot, superintendent at Thung Yang Daeng police station, said the firearms, along with ammunition, were found as a result of an expanded investigation following the arrest of a suspect on Tuesday.
Police launched a raid on Saturday on a house in tambon Paku in Thung Yang Daeng district that belongs to the suspect. No firearms or anything suspicious were found, but a nearby rubber plantation was searched and four M16 rifles were uncovered, including one which was damaged.
Police said the serial number of one rifle matched that of a rifle used in the attack by insurgents that killed four soldiers on July 28, 2012. The motorcycle patrol came under fire from attackers in three pickup trucks on Mayo-Palus Road in Mayo district.
Meanwhile, Yarang assistant district officer Aphinun Muadkaew yesterday led a team of security officials on a mission to surround Sangabaru village in tambon Khongmai, Pattani, after he received a tip-off that insurgents were preparing to launch an attack.
Officials detained a man in a house that had no apparent address.
They discovered a motorcycle without a number plate that was modified for a bomb attack.
Other items found at the house included 12 radio communication devices, two plastic bottles containing metal scrap, two boxes of fireworks with potassium nitrate, three gallons of petrol and a gallon of paint and a banner.
All items were seized for further examination, police said.
The suspect allegedly confessed he was making a bomb for a friend who expected to use it to attack authorities in Yarang district.
The suspect was taken to Yarang Police Station where he was charged and then shifted to Inkayuth military camp in Pattani for questioning.