Laos joins probe into Supoj robbery
Civilians want to abduct gang leader Ko, who fled across the border, to demand ransom,
The manhunt for Weerasak Chaulee, 36, a key suspect in the high-profile burglary of transport permanent secretary Supoj Saplom's house on Nov 12, has become one of the most challenging tasks of the year.
The figure is also necessary for the National Anti-Corruption Commission and the Anti-Money Laundering Office as they investigate Mr Supoj's money trail.
Mr Supoj, who has been transferred to an inactive post pending probes into unusual wealth allegations filed against him, has reiterated his claim that only 5 million baht was stolen. But so far police have retrieved more than 18 million baht.
The police's hunt for Mr Weerasak, also known as Ko, began four days after the burglary. That was when the first batch of suspects was arrested and they told police investigators he was the key man in the gang.
The police detectives rushed to follow Mr Weerasak to Kanchanaburi, only to find out that he had already gone to his wife's home in Sa Kaeo. And by the time police were certain he had escaped to Sa Kaeo, Mr Weerasak had apparently fled into Laos through Nakhon Phanom.
Another suspect apprehended later, confirmed to police that Mr Weerasak had sneaked out of Thailand with about 400,000 baht in cash. The suspect said he was the one who saw Mr Weerasak off at the Thai-Laos border.
He said Mr Weerasak then took an illegal boat service to Laos' Khammouane state.
With that information, investigators have surmised that Mr Weerasak must have had hidden a lot more stolen cash somewhere from Bangkok to Nakhon Phanom via Kanchanaburi and Sa Kaeo, the route he used before fleeing into Laos.
After realising the key suspect was in the neighbouring country, the Deputy National Police chief Phanupong Singhara na Ayutthaya asked the Provincial Police Region 4 to send an investigation team into Laos with the help of Lao authorities.
A Lao investigation was then set up to assist the Thai police in the search for Mr Weerasak and quickly located a Lao man identified as "Mong" who is an old friend of the suspect. The two have known each other from their previous wood trade together in Laos.
The only useful information Mong could give them was that Mr Weerasak had recently met him at a restaurant, but the Lao friend insisted he did not help Mr Weerasak find a hideout.
Mr Weerasak now appears to have vanished from Laos and intelligence has led police to believe he may be somewhere on the Lao border with Vietnam or Cambodia.
Pol Maj Gen Ronasil Phusara, chief of the Metropolitan Police Bureau's investigation centre, who has been assigned to head the main investigation team in the burglary case, suspected someone was supplying money to Mr Weerasak while he was in Laos and for use to fund his escape.
Mr Weerasak was running away from not only the Thai and Lao police but also several civilian groups of Lao people who were thought to also be hunting him, said Pol Maj Gen Ronasil. Some wanted to abduct him to seek a ransom.
Some wanted to catch him to get the money he carried on his person, while others might want to get him to cash in on a reward of 200,000 baht being offered by the Thai police for information leading to his arrest.
Police have also set up a team to search for the stolen money which Mr Weerasak allegedly took away from Mr Supoj's house. It is believed he has made off with at least 100 million baht, based on figures provide by the arrested suspects.
They have told police investigators Mr Weerasak allegedly took one large and two small bags of money which they estimated could have carried a total of more than 100 million baht.
The new investigation team believed Mr Weerasak might have buried the cash somewhere because he had the skills to operate a backhoe.
Pol Maj Gen Ronasil, however, said he could not confirm if Mr Weerasak really had made off with such a large amount of cash. "It it just hearsay. Those bags could contain something else, not the banknotes," he said.
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