Police believe that 37-year-old Chaowalit Thongduang, a prisoner who escaped from a hospital in Nakhon Si Thammarat, is probably hiding somewhere in Khao Banthat Wildlife Sanctuary, an animal preserve spanning four southern provinces.
In a dramatic departure from their earlier belief that Chaowalit had escaped the nation via the province of Satun on the southern border, police were tracking the prisoner in the area using cell phone signals.
1,266 square kilometers of forest in Phatthalung, Trang, Satun, and Songkhla make up the sanctuary.
Sometime between Saturday night and Monday morning, Chaowalit, also known as Sia Paeng Na Nod, absconded from Maharat Nakhon Si Thammarat Hospital, where he was scheduled to undergo dental care.
According to a source, Chaowalit was captured on camera leaving the hospital in a white Mitsubishi Triton pickup truck after exiting the elevator with a man who was later identified as Chirawut, or Luk Wua.
An Isuzu D-Max pickup truck and a black Honda Civic were both seen following the truck. Later, it turned out that another man—whom the police had named Chakkri or Big—was operating the truck.
Police discovered that the three cars were first traveling toward the Nakhon Si Thammarat districts of Chian Yai and Cha-aut before entering the neighboring Phatthalung after following the phone signals of the occupants in these vehicles.
The three vehicles, however, parted ways as soon as they arrived in the Sri Nakharin area of Phatthalung, with the Civic traveling to Krabi, the Isuzu truck traveling to Trang, and the Mitsubishi truck traveling to Satun.
Initially, it seems that the authorities were tricked into thinking that Chaowalit was traveling to Satun in the same Mitsubishi truck and might have fled to a nearby nation.
The truck was later found abandoned in Satun, around ten meters from the home of a local politician. Police discovered he had not traveled in it only after detecting his cell phone signals in the Khao Banthat Wildlife Sanctuary area.
The prisoner is said to have moved to the Civic, which was reportedly driven from Krabi to Nakhon Si Thammarat by Chaowalit’s close assistant, who was only named as Non.
After traveling about two kilometers from the closest road, Chaowalit stepped out of the black Civic and strolled into the animal refuge in Trang.
Where Chaowalit is thought to be hiding, a witness reported seeing someone riding a motorcycle into the woodland. The motorist was observed with a bag that might have included a gun or food supplies. The sanctuary is the main target of the police’s search for the runaway. On Wednesday, the manhunt entered its fourth day.
With Chaowalit’s escape, the chief of Nakhon Si Thammarat Central Prison, Narong Nukhong, has been moved.
UPDATE ON MANHUNT
Police have said that Chaowalit Thongduang, the 37 year old who escaped from a hospital even though he was under guard and shackled to a bed, is hiding in the Khao Banthat Wildlife Sanctuary.
He has been traced to the area from his mobile phone signal, potentially dismissing rumours he had fled the country.
