Police killer suspect dies in shootout

On Wednesday night, National Police assistant chief LtGeneral Assawin Kwanmuang led officers who found suspect Ekkachai Chunhachai, 37, at a house in Phetchabun's Wang Pong district. Ekkachai was lying low after allegedly having shot dead Pol Captain Athit Buppha in Bangkok.

Police reported that on their arrival to arrest Ekkachai he resisted and fled inside the house. In the resulting gunfight Ekkachai was killed. The sus¬pect's body will be submitted for an autopsy.

Police investigations found that Ekkachai was a chronic gambler and was on record for having shot his own soninlaw.

They say Ekkachai turned to the drug trade and they had planned to arrest him many times before, but he evaded them until Sunday's encounter, which led to the death of the police officer.

Assawin said that police had camped in the area for two days prior to the arrest attempt and that during Wednesday night they had tried to convince Ekkachai to surrender peacefully, but he resisted and shot at them first.

Prasert Phrompakdi, kamnan of Wang Pong district's tambon Wang Hin, said that Ekkachai was brought by a friend to hide in the house, which belonged to a Public Health Ministry retiree and was located in a tamarind orchard. The friend then went back to Bangkok.

 Prasert said that Ekkachai was not the first fugitive to hide in the area, as the tambon of forest land and mountains was home to settlers from other provinces - an ideal place for criminals on the run to lie low.

A source said that Wang Pong district was dominated by three power groups, one of which was already prominent while the two were still gathering influence. Many hit men from outside areas had come to the district to hide out. However, it also attracted various levels of investors to set up business establishments there, the source said.