An ex-convict was detained on Thursday at his residence in Bangkok, where he had previously manufactured modified blank pistols for use with actual bullets, according to the police.
The suspect, 41, who is only known as Werayuth, resides in Phuket’s southern province.
More than 40 handgun barrels and magazines to be used with blank guns so they could shoot real bullets were discovered during a search of his Thung Khru neighborhood residence in Bangkok.
The police also found numerous bullets, a small amount of “ice” (crystallized methamphetamine), and smoking equipment.
The arrest was a result of a police crackdown on modified blank weapons after a 14-year-old kid opened fire on a crowd of people on Tuesday at a posh mall in Bangkok, killing two people and badly injuring five more. According to reports, the young suspect used a modified blank gun.
One of the officers performing the search at the suspect’s home, Assistant National Police Chief Pol Lt-General Samran Nualma, claimed that the location was used to manufacture blank firearms outfitted with pistol barrels and magazines so they could operate like a real handgun.
The accused gun assembler’s sources for the parts and his clients would be the subject of additional inquiry by the Metropolitan Police, Samran said.
The suspect, two others from the southern Yala province, and a third from Bangkok’s Don Mueang neighborhood were all detained in connection with the mass shooting on Tuesday, the officer added. He stated that they were being questioned at the Yannawa Police Station in Bangkok.
Werayuth, the suspect from Bangkok’s Thung Khru district, was questioned by police and it came out that he had previously graduated from a vocational school in Phuket and had previously worked as a mechanic.
He got into the hobby of altering toy guns so they could fire real bullets because of his fascination in BB air guns.
Police estimate that the suspect’s monthly profit from the sale of those firearms was around 30,000 Baht. They said that he spent some of his revenue on the purchase of drugs.
Werayuth was detained in 2015 for producing illicit firearms and was sentenced to three years in jail. He was also imprisoned for methamphetamine possession.
The suspect was charged in the most recent arrest on Thursday with possessing and manufacturing illegal firearms as well as having drugs with the intent to sell
UPDATE
Thai police have arrested four men accused of selling a gun to a 14-year-old suspected of carrying out a shooting attack at a Bangkok mall that left two people dead.
The teenager has been charged with murder over Tuesday’s attack at the Siam Paragon mall.
Police say the suspect used a blank-firing pistol modified to shoot live rounds.
