War weapons and drugs found in wreckage of fatal crash in Thailand

A bus and a pickup truck collided in Lop Buri province in central Thailand this morning, killing three people and injuring seven more. Police were shocked to find a stash of drugs, weapons, and ammunition inside the pickup.

Officers from Khok Samrong Police Station were informed of a serious crash along the Phahonyothin Road in Moo 12 in Huay Pong subdistrict. Police, doctors, and rescue workers rushed to the scene.

Police found a bus full of workers heading to a factory in the city of Lop Buri. The front of the vehicle was heavily damaged.

The bus driver, 62 year old Sala Chumuenwai from Nakhon Ratchasima province, northeast Thailand, was killed in the crash. Of the workers on board, seven people were injured, reports DailyNews.

Nearby, police found a demolished white Isuzu pickup truck. Inside the wreckage, police found the bodies of two people, 30 year old Wisan [surname withheld] from Phetchabun province – the driver – and 28 year old Sukanya [surname withheld] from Lop Buri province.

Another seriously injured man was found trapped inside the pickup. Staff used cutting equipment to get him out and took him to Khok Samrong Hospital for urgent treatment.

Officers were shocked at what they found inside the demolished pickup truck: an AK-47, 20 rounds of ammunition, one magazine, one .9mm firearm, one .99 magazine, 11 rounds of .99 ammunition, and 12 rounds of 12-gauge shotgun ammunition.

Aside from weapons, police found 24 tablets of Yaba (methamphetamine tablets mixed with caffeine), five bags of “Ice” (methamphetamine) and three mobile phones.

The police’s preliminary investigation suggests that the pickup driver fell asleep and swerved across the lanes, colliding with the bus which was driving at full force, causing numerous deaths and injuries.

Chief of Thailand’s Lop Buri Police Force Maj. Gen. Apirak Wechkanchana said he was surprised that war-grade weapons were found in the city of Lop Buri.

The police said they have launched an investigation and will have to wait for the pickup truck’s sole surviving passenger to recover before he undergoes interrogation.