Surrender your weapons

Police break open student lockers yesterday at Rajamangala Tech’s Uthen Thawai campus in a bid to prevent stockpiling of weapons for revenge attacks ahead of the university’s anniversary, on Sunday./ Tatchadon Panyaphanitkul

Police teams turned up makeshift weapons yesterday during searches at Rajamangala University of Technology's Uthen Thawai campus and the Pathumwan Institute of Technology.

One-hundred-and-fifty officers combed the Uthen Thawai campus's Student Activity Building in an hour-long search with sniffer dogs. Among the finds were seven bullet shells, five home-made "ping pong" bombs and 18 knives.

Rajamangala closed

The university was closed last Wednesday but the "Blue Day" celebrations of its anniversary will go ahead this Sunday with an outdoor concert. Students have been advised not to arrive in big groups or wear clothes that identify the university they belong to. The university will reopen on Monday.

In a simultaneous search at the Pathumwan Institute of Technology, police and dogs netted a home-made gun, one knife, two bullets and a sharpened metal bar.

Concert fears

Deputy rector Anuchat Srisiriwat, who aided police in the search, said the institute would not close, though many students were staying away, fearing violence in the run up to Rajamangala's Blue Day.

Pol Maj-General Wittaya Rattanawit said that the weapons were found in lockers without nametags, so no students would be charged.

The searches follow a series of bloody clashes that culminated in two shootings less than a week apart. Fourth-year Pathumwan student Khanin Thong-ou was shot dead on Monday night in Rat Burana district while five days earlier, Uthen Thawai student Pornpot Sopaijaroen, 21, was shot dead on Phahon Yothin Road.

On Wednesday, police got together students from both colleges to shake hands in a symbolic gesture to end their long-running feud.