The students were allegedly involved in the brutal murder of Benjapol Wiriyarampa in the Soi Lat Phrao 124 neighbourhood on August 26. They were arrested on Thursday night.

Benjapol was a 20-year-old sophomore at Rajamangala University of Technology's Uthen Thawai campus.

A growing crowd of the victim's school friends who witnessed the re-enactment prompted police officers to speed up the re-enactment and return the suspects back to police station for their safety.

Police said the three suspects - Suthinant Wanghomklang, 21, Mongkol Sripool, 22, and Chatri Juwanna, 23 - confessed to the murder and said they were aided by three other friends who remain at large. Benjapol was targeted over previous conflicts and the fact that he was reportedly wooing the girlfriend of one of the boys in the group.

Later yesterday, a group of about 50 Uthen Thawai students visited Wang Thong Lang police station and presented police with a flower basket in praise of the speedy arrest.

At the same time about 50 Pathum Wan students went to the station to visit the suspects and the situation became volatile. The two groups started yelling abuse at one another and it took around 100 police officers to separate them. A six-inch-long knife was found on a Pathum Wan student, who was released with a warning.

The Lat Phrao murder allegedly led to the revenge killing of an innocent Pathum Wan freshman, Ekkapong Khuha, 18, on Tuesday. With one suspect already in police custody, the search is on for another student involved in that killing.