In the early hours of February 15, witnesses said that Surasak Ruengpeng, 26, had stumbled into the emergency room of Patong Hospital after he had been beaten and stabbed by a group of teenagers on motorbikes.
It was reported that Surasak – who was driving a pickup truck fleeing from a gang of teens on motorbikes at about 2am – had sought sanctuary at Patong police station, but to no avail as the entrance he came to was the back door and locked.
After failing to get the attention of police officers inside, he returned to his truck, but witnesses said that the teens had caught up and proceeded to beat and then stab him in the chest "with a sharp object".
Alerted by Vachira hospital the next day, with Surasak in critical condition, Police began their investigation, which would ultimately take a month to conclude.
Acting on CCTV footage and tip-offs, Police identified the first suspect as an 18-year-old teen named Apisit “Joe” Lad-yao of Trang, who police tracked to a Thai Facebook profile by the name of “Go Jo Soom Tai Luke”.
Police created a fake Facebook profile of a girl and sent a friend request to the suspect, who accepted and thus provided police access to his activities.
Then on March 13, a female police investigator, using the fake Facebook profile set up by police, lured Joe into a meeting at 8pm in Phuket Town.
Joe was surprised to meet instead police officers who apprehended him and brought him in for questioning about the incident on February 15.
Joe told police that he and a group of about 20 friends on 10 motorbikes in Phuket Town decided to ride their bikes to Patong.
When they got to Patong Hill, they were followed closely by the victim driving a Mazda pickup truck, who tried to run them off the road before overtaking them.
Offended, the teens followed in hot pursuit before finally catching up with the victim near Patong police station.
Three more suspects in the ensuing thrashing were identified as
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Greet “Gai” Punthong
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Nutthapong “Jay Uan” Aramwilai
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Wattanakorn “Nut” Jumnongjit
Mr Wattanakorn was named as the suspect who used a sharp steel object to stab the victim, before the gang fled to Galaxy Pub on Phra Meta Rd.
Police tracked down Mr Wattanakorn and interrogated him, and were convinced, noting that his story matched exactly with Joe’s account. The two have been booked for the crime.