YALA (Southern Thailand): The police have arrested a civil defence volunteer officer over several recent cases of shooting in the province of Yala, according to local media reports.
They said the 31-year-old officer was picked up at his home in Yala town in an operation last week and that the police seized an M16 rifle and a pistol from him.
The reports said the officer was suspected to have been involved in shooting to death the wife of a village chief in the mukim of Benan Star and injuring the headman and their two daughters as they were returning home to break the Ramadan fast on May 9.
Meanwhile, Yala provincial police chief Police Maj Gen Kerisada Keawjandi said the arrested officer is suspected to have been involved also in the shooting to death of the president of a mukim administrative council in Yala as he was returning home after breaking fast with family members on May 22.
The police are on the hunt for several other individuals suspected to have been involved in these cases, he told reporters here.
The media reports also said that the police have arrested another man, in Pattani, suspected to have been involved in the shooting incidents. — Bernama
