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 drug trafficking charges in his home country, officials said 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.
“The fugitive who was secured is one of the most wanted fugitives by Thai authorities as he had committed many crimes before finally fleeing to Indonesia to hide,” Widada said.
/AP
Chaowalit – also known by the nickname ‘Pang Na Node’ – 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.
Phanurat Lukboon, secretary general of Thailand’s Narcotic Drugs Control Board, said police seized several pieces of evidence, including a fake identity card and birth certificate under the name Sulaiman, which was allegedly used by Chaowalit, and an Indonesian bank account book.
“If Chaowalit comes here, there must be someone who helped him enter Indonesia. Now we are investigating who is the mastermind behind all this,” Phanurat 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.
In December last year, the Bangkok Post reported that he had been sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment in an attempted murder case dating back to 2019.
Hundreds of police officers were mobilized to recapture him, in an operation that reportedly cost around 10 million baht ($271,816).
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.
AFP contributed to this report.
