Money van shot up in Chiang Dao forest
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A group of robbers yesterday opened fire at a Krung Thai Bank van with an automatic rifle in an isolated and wooded area in Chiang Mai's Chiang Dao district, to try to steal Bt50 million it was carrying, but the driver sped away and alerted police.
Police said a bus had been robbed in the area previously, as the area had no phone or radio signal contact.
The attack occurred at 9am on Chiang Dao-Na Wai Road in Tambon Thung Khao Phoung. The assailants hid in roadside bushes and shot several rounds at the money van, damaging the front window, headlights and radiator, but the driver sped 500 metres away before finding a patrolling police car. Wiang Haeng superintendent Pol Col Winai Suksiri, who passed by the van, promptly hunted for the bandits, who retreated into the forest.
Na Wai police found four gunshots at the van’s front and found a spent AK47 bullet at the scene of the ambush.
Deputy chief of Chiang Mai police Colonel Sombat Supapa said the van, which had three officials on board, was carrying Bt50 million from Khuang Singha in Chiang Mai to Wiang Haeng and ATM machines, when the attack occurred. They suspect the attack was either a robbery attempt or a personal conflict with someone onboard or a reckless act to shoot at a random vehicle.
But the area had bad phone links and six armed robbers with hoods over their faces had held up a bus there in May 2009, he said.
