The alleged mastermind of the botched daylight robbery of a Bangkok gun shop confessed to renting two motorbikes and buying the BB guns used by his gang in Pattaya.
Zheng Yang, 30, was brought from a military jail at a Bangkok army base March 8 to escort tourist police to the locations where he obtained the guns and motorcycles used in the March 3 heist attempt at the Inter Arms shop in the Wang Burapha area of the capital’s Phra Nakhon district.
Chinese nationals Wu Xingjun, 40, was shot dead by police and alleged cohorts Sun Junwei, 27, Li Kunpeng, 26, and Ma Geng, 34, were injured. Police recovered their fake guns at the scene. Zheng was arrested March 5 at the Nakhon Sawan train station en route from Bangkok to Chiang Mai.
Zheng Yang (2nd left), the alleged mastermind of the botched daylight robbery of a Bangkok gun shop, is brought to Pattaya to reenact where he bought BB guns and rented motorcycles used in the crime.
Top Tourist Police officers from Pattaya and Bangkok first brought Zheng to a motorbike stand at the intersection of Soi 13 and Beach Road where he said he rented a Honda Zoomer-X and Honda Click on March 1 from Wittaya Kruapayak, 52, for 200 baht a day.
The next stop was the IOD Shop on Central Road where he confessed to purchasing two BB guns. Owner Kanika Awat, 39, confirmed the March 1 sale, but said did not know what the Chinese man intended to do with them.
Bangkok police suspect the motive for the crime was related to gun trafficking, but the investigation is still underway. All the suspects are being held in military custody for fear their robbery was terrorism-related.
Police also have revoked the visa of a 29-year-old Chinese man in Phuket who sold an alleged gang member a telephone SIM card, one of many found at the robbery scene. He is being deported back to China and banned from Thailand for five years.
