Six more sought in kidnapping and beating of teen boy

After police announced yesterday they had issued a warrant for a suspect accused of kidnapping a 16 year old boy and severely beating him before dumping him on the side of the road, six more suspects have been identified in the crime. Pak Kret Police issued six more warrants for the incident that took place in Nontha Buri last week.

Witnesses report that two cars with a group of six or seven men showed up at the motorbike repair shop in Pak Kret where the boy worked on Friday. New details suggest that there were as many as ten men involved in the kidnapping of the boy. Several approached the boy and then forced him at gunpoint to get into one of the cars.

A man in the repair shop had a gun and fired a warning shot in the air in an attempt to rattle the kidnappers. They returned fire as they climbed back into their cars before speeding away with the boy. Police later identified a black Toyota Fortuner seen being used in the kidnapping on CCTV footage.

The car was found when police searched the home of the first identified suspect in the boy’s kidnapping, Kittiporn Buanoi, on Sunday night. The home in Samut Sakhon had some bullets recovered inside, and the vehicle used in the crime was parked out front. The suspect himself could not be found.

Police found the kidnapped boy on the side of the road in the Lat Krabang district of Bangkok that same day he was abducted, severely beaten and unconscious. He was immediately transported to a nearby hospital for treatment and was on a ventilator for several days. He was moved on Monday out of the intensive care unit to a standard ward and doctors say his life is safe now.

Police believe the boy had opened a bank account in his name and handed his ATM card over to a gang to hide or launder money. The boy was tempted by the large amount in the account and withdrew about 300,000 baht of the gang’s money from his account to go on a personal spending spree.

Meanwhile, another person believed to be connected with the kidnapping is currently in the hospital in Pak Kret. He is suffering from a gunshot wound from when Kittiporn accidentally shot him on the same day of the boy’s kidnapping.

SOURCE: Thai PBS World

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