A couple with a sick baby staged a carjacking in Khon Kaen province while getting a lift from a good Samaritan on Tuesday.
Rattana Sriwicha, 39, said the couple had approached her in front of a convenience store at a petrol station.
“They offered Bt500 for a lift to a bus station. But I assured them that I would give them a free ride,” Rattana said. “I could not have imagined that they would turn into robbers.”
“I was trying to reach my cell phone but his wife then threatened to let Pek stab me with a knife, so I had to quickly get out of the car,” the good Samaritan-turned victim said.
The man then drove the car into nearby Maha Sarakham province.
Chased by police, he and his family fled the vehicle and went into hiding in the forest at the back of a hotel.
Maha Sarakham police chief Pol Maj-General Apisak Dechacumpoo and deputy police chief Pol Lt-Colonel Ittipol Suwanwattana then led a team in surrounding the forest zone and negotiating with the carjackers.
After a four-hour stand-ff, Apisak managed to persuade Pek to surrender, after assuring him that no one would harm him, his wife or his child.
The police chief also stressed to him that his baby was very ill and should have not remained in the forest.
After Pek gave up his gun and surrendered, an ambulance immediately took his wife and baby to Maha Sarakham Hospital.
An informed source said Pek’s child had serious health conditions.
As of press time, Pek was in police detention.
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