BMTA urges crackdown on transit
The Bangkok Mass Transit Authority is pushing for harsher sentences for crimes against public transport, while police nabbed the former vocational student suspected of shooting the driver of a 131 bus.
Last week, brawls by technical students led to stray bullets wounding a bank employee on a 129 bus and killing Jakkapan Kotjak, 31, the driver of the 131 bus on Friday.
Opas Petchmanee, director of the city bus operator, said yesterday that the BMTA and other state agencies would discuss about making penalties for attacks on all public transport systems severer. They hope that stiffer punishment would instil fear and deter people from engaging in violent activities.
Somsak Kawjantik, 21, a former student of Kanchanapisek Industrial and Communication Education College, was booked for carrying a weapon and possessing illicit drugs.
Pol Colonel Namchai Chotprayun, deputy commissioner of Metropolitan Police Division 3, said many witnesses confirmed that Somsak was the killer of the bus driver and a surveillance camera near the scene caught Somsak with his friends.
Police would ask the Min Buri Court to charge Somsak with murder.
