Manhunt to target gun thieves
A MANHUNT will be launched in Narathiwat for the insurgents suspected of stealing four state-issued shotguns and two personal guns from assistant village headmen and a defence volunteers in Bacho district's Kayor Mattee sub-district on Tuesday evening.
Jiras Siriwallop, chief of the district, held an urgent meeting to motivate the headmen, kamnans and defence volunteers to hunt for the weapons and return them to the district, which had not encountered any violent attacks this year.
Jiras said a fact-finding committee had been set up to investigate the case.
This incident has also prompted them to assess each village’s preparedness in storing state-issued weapons, and if there isn’t a storage facility then officials are to keep the weapons with themselves or leave them with a nearby policy or military centre, he said.
Assistant village headmen Awae Ali and Abdul-tolae Etaela, along with village defence volunteer Royali Masa, filed a police complaint on Tuesday night that their homes had been raided at around 7pm by five to six armed men.
Bathing rites
In related news, Internal Security Operations Command Region 4 deputy director Lt-General Lerchai Maleelert yesterday attended the bathing rites for Master Sergeant First Class Wattana Muangkaew, who was killed in the Tuesday bomb attack in Rangae district.
The late sergeant was promoted posthumously to the rank of colonel and his family was given Bt3 million in assistance money. Wattana’s body was returned to his hometown in Chumphon’s Tha Sae district for funeral rites.
