4 arrested over park ranger’s shooting death

Further to a story published yesterday by The Thaiger, police have now arrested 4 men for the shooting death of a forest protection officer at Sap Langka Wildlife Sanctuary in the central province of Lop Buri. Police overseeing the Central Plains provinces say the arrested men are residents in tambon Kut Ta Phet of Lam Sonthi district.

The men, allegedly poachers, have been identified as Thes Netsangsri, Boonlue Saikhun, Warawut Thuasanit and Boonlome Jullanak. Authorities did not reveal how they were able to find and arrest the 4 suspects.

But police have revealed that they were caught in an area near the wildlife sanctuary and have confessed to killing Khuan Chaiprasert, the chief forest protection officer there. They report that some of the suspects admitted opening fire on forest protection officers to evade arrest while hunting illegally in the forest.

Police yesterday returned to the scene of the crime to collect more evidence. The arrests were made after PM Prayut Chan-o-cha ordered local police to bring Khuan’s murderers to justice as quickly as possible on Tuesday.

Khuan along with two other officers were on patrol in the forest on Monday when they came under fire.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post