Phuket Provincial Police Deputy Commander Col Sermpan Sirikong confirmed to The Phuket News that the two men were arrested at rented house in Thalang this morning (May 23).
“A search of the house resulted in bullets being seized at the scene, but officers did not find any firearms,” he said.
The two men, who Col Sermpan said were both from Trang but declined to name, were taken into custody and taken for questioning.
“They are now being questioned further as we believe they are involved in drugs,” he said.
Capt Natthi Phichitchainithimet of the Wichit Police confirmed that arrest warrants were quickly issued by the Phuket Provincial Court on Monday soon after the attack was reported.
Specifically the men face charges of under Section 358 of the Criminal Code, which states, “Whoever, damaging, destroying, causing the depreciation of value or rendering useless the property belonging to the other person or which the other person to be the co-owner, such person to be said to commit mischief, and shall be imprisoned not out of three years or fined not more of B6,000, or both.”
They also face charges under Section 392 of the Criminal Code, which states, “Any person who, by threat, places another in a state of fear or fright shall be liable to imprisonment for not more than one month, or a fine not exceeding B1,000 or both.”
The attack was reported by Detnarong Songsaeng, who is a full-time lawyer who also volunteers to work as an ambulance driver, Capt Natthi explained.
The incident went viral on Thai social media sites this morning after Mr Detnarong shared video clips of the attack recorded by the ambulance’s on-board cameras on his Kaew Detnarong Facebook page.
The attack occurred at the bypass road at 4:45pm on Monday, after the ambulance exited the Darasamut Underpass, Mr Detnarong explained.
As shown in the videos, Mr Detnarong was driving the ambulance in the right southbound lane and moved to middle lane, while the two men on the motorbike also attempted to enter the middle lane in order pass a pickup truck.
“So I pressed the horn to warn them,” Mr Detnarong said.
“The motorbike almost hit my left side,” he added.
Mr Detnarong slowed down, but did not stop.
Furious, the two men then pursued the ambulance, in turn threatening Mr Detnarong with a knife and a small axe before smashing holes in the ambulance’s rear and side windows.
“They kept following me, but when they saw a Traffic Police officer, they pulled over and stopped, and then turned around and headed southbound,” Mr Detnarong said.