Maker of modified blank guns arrested as police crack down after mall shooting
A former convict was arrested on Thursday at his Bangkok home where he used to make modified blank guns for use with real bullets, police said.
The 41-year-old suspect, identified only as Werayuth, is a resident of southern Phuket province.
A search of his home in Bangkok’s Thung Khru district yielded more than 40 pistol barrels and magazines to be used with blank guns so they could fire real bullets.
Police also found dozens of bullets and a small amount of “ice” crystalised methamphetamine and drug-smoking equipment.
The arrest was part of a police crackdown on modified blank guns following Tuesday’s mass shooting by a 14-year-old boy at a Bangkok luxury mall, which left two people dead and five others seriously injured. The teen suspect reportedly used a modified blank gun.
Assistant National Police chief Pol Lt-General Samran Nualma, who was among the officers conducting the search at the suspect’s house, said that the place was used to make blank guns fitted with pistol barrels and magazines so they could function like a real firearm.
“The Metropolitan Police would conduct further investigation to determine from where the suspected gun assembler got the components and who his customers were,” Samran said.
The officer also said that the suspect was among those arrested in connection with Tuesday’s mass shooting, along with two suspects from southern Yala province and another person from Bangkok’s Don Mueang area. They were being questioned at Bangkok’s Yannawa Police Station, he said.
Police interrogation of Werayuth, the suspect from Bangkok’s Thung Khru district, revealed that he had finished a vocational college in Phuket many years ago and initially worked as a mechanic.
His interest in BB air guns drew him into the hobby of modifying imitation guns so they could fire real bullets.
The suspect made about 30,000 baht per month from selling those guns, according to police. Part of his income was spent on buying narcotics, they said.
Werayuth had been arrested in 2015 for making illegal firearms and had served three years in prison. He was also jailed for possession of methamphetamine.
In the latest arrest on Thursday, the suspect was charged with possession and production of illegal firearms as well as having narcotic drugs with the intent to sell.
