UPDATE: Officers shot during gunfire exchange at luxury home in Chon Buri

2 police officers were shot and severely wounded in a gunfire exchange while executing a search warrant at a luxury home in Chon Buri’s Huayyai, just outside Pattaya. A gardener was mowing the lawn when a team of police arrived at the home. As soon as they knocked on the front door, a man inside fired shots from an upper floor of the home, the gardener says.

Police Captain Panthep Sriboonnak was shot in his shoulder, chest and stomach and is now in critical condition. The other officer, Greetha Thipnet, has a bullet wound on his leg.

Region 2 Police, Tourist Police, Immigration Officers, the Huayyai Police, and Special Weapons and Tactics, or SWAT, were then called to the scene. The home was searched and officers found a firearm and 40 spent bullet cartridges. Blood was on the floor.

Police arrested the alleged shooter, 35 year old Jang Yang, from China, as well as five other Chinese nationals, a gardener and 2 housekeepers from Myanmar. Jang faces charges of attempted murder.

A report from the Bangkok Post says the police had a search warrant because “they were looking for evidence that a group of Chinese nationals who rented the house might be members of a mafia gang, as they seemed to be unusually rich.”

The home was located on a golf course and said to be valued at hundreds of millions of baht. Luxury vehicles, including a Porsche and Rolls Royce, were parked outside.

Police say they are still investigating and will release more information at a later time.

SOURCES: Pattaya News| Bangkok Post