Police apprehended Manote Chanapan, 35, on Monday night at a market in Saraburi's Kaeng Khoi district, where he was hiding from the authorities at a local temple, Provincial Police Region 1 Commander Lt-General Ek Angsananont told a press conference yesterday. Late last Wednesday, a twin brother and sister, Por and Nam (not their real names), both 16, were lured to meet 15-year-old Natacha (not her real name) in front of Angthong Hotel.

The twins, along with Natacha's boyfriend Manote and two other men - Jittichai Nakson, 38, and Adisorn Sahapanpong, 23, who both remain at large - then travelled by pickup truck to a drinking party at a friend's house, before Manote and his friends gang-raped the twin sister in a nearby rice field, police said.

Natacha, who reportedly had previous conflicts with Por, asked Manote to kill him to cover the crime. Manote slashed his throat and then gave the knife to Ampol Sutthikul, 22, to stab the boy to death while the others were raping his sister.

The group disposed of Por's body in a sandpit in Ayutthaya's Bang Ban district before taking Nam to Angthong's Pa Moke district, where they raped her again. They planned to kill her there, it is claimed.

However, Nam begged for her life and they decided to lock her up at a friend's house - where they raped her until next morning - but the girl then managed to escape and alert police.

Prior to Manote's arrest, police had nabbed Natacha, Ampol and Neung Khongcharoen, 22, and all four confessed to killing Por, disposing of his body to cover up the crime, gang-raping his sister and taking away minors aged under 18 from their parents for lewd acts, Ek said.

Yesterday, police took Manote, Ampol and Neung to re-enact the crime at the scene. Many angry bystanders scolded them, while some tried to attack the accused and urged authorities to execute them for the crime.

The re-enactment took place at the house where they had been drinking, the rice field where the rapes and murder took place, the sandpit where they disposed of the body, the house where they detained the girl and the spot where Manote disposed of the knife on Asia Highway, near the Nissan Angthong showroom.

However, police could not find the knife as the area was under construction for a road extension.

During the re-enactment, Manote told reporters that he was given a life sentence in 1991 for murder, but it was later reduced to  seven years by the Appeal Court.