CHUMPHON: The three remaining detainees who escaped from a courthouse in a stolen prison truck on Thursday were recaptured on Saturday in a mountainous area of Thung Tako district in this southern province.
The trio – Thanathip Permlarp, Pichet Klin-ocha and Krisada Kaeonui – were caught at 6.20am after a team of corrections officers, police and soldiers located them on Tha Thong mountain, said Corrections Department director-general Naras Savestanan.
Thai media reported that the three had emerged earlier from their hideout in a cave to look for food and were spotted by local residents, who immediately alerted police.
The three men were among five detainees being held on drug trafficking charges who escaped from the Lang Suan provincial court in Chumphon on Thursday.
They snatched the key of their prison truck from a corrections official and drove off in the vehicle. Police and security guards tried to block their escape but they crashed through the gates and drove away.
The two other escapees were on foot and were quickly recaptured outside the court.
The corrections pickup truck was found abandoned in a rubber plantation in Moo 12 village of Thung Tako, about 10 kilometres from the courthouse.
Pol Col Naras said he would go to Chumphon on Sunday to interrogate the arrested men.
