JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — One of Thailand’s most wanted fugitives will be escorted home on a Thai air force plane after being arrested on the Indonesian tourist island of Bali after months on the run in connection with several murders and allegations of drug trafficking in his home country. Officials said this on Monday.
Chaowalit Thongduang escaped from detention in Thailand while being treated in a hospital. When he was arrested on Thursday, he was using a fake Indonesian national identity card that he received shortly after arriving in Indonesia’s northernmost province of Aceh in December following a 17-hour speedboat journey from India, said Wahyu Widada, chief of the Criminal Investigation Department. the Indonesian National Police. Research department.
Chaowalit was arrested during a raid on his apartment in Bali’s Badung regency. Authorities seized four of his cellphones, along with several fake identity documents.
“We are still investigating locals who helped uncover Chaowalit’s false identity,” Widada said.
Thai Justice Minister Tawee Sodsong, who traveled to Indonesia to meet with Chaowalit, said he will be flown on a military plane to Thailand on Tuesday, where he is wanted for the murder or attempted murder of police officers and others and drug trafficking .
Tawee said Chaowalit praised authorities for being able to trace him after he fled through several countries.
Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said he was confident the justice system that arrested Chaowalit could bring him to justice.
Indonesia and Thailand signed an extradition treaty in 1978.
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Associated Press writer Napat Kongsawad in Bangkok contributed to this report.
