Facebook poster denies firing gun in Patttaya Tunnel
Two men and a woman turned themselves in to Pattaya police late Wednesday night to deny that they had fired a gun inside Pattaya Tunnel as had been widely publicised on Facebook.
Natthawut Sa-ard, 26, and his two friends appeared at Pattaya police station at about 10 minutes after midnight after a video clip on Natthawut’s Facebook wall drew strong criticism from other Facebook users.
The 2.08-minute clip titled “Fire in tunnel” showed two men and a woman in a car, which had apparently been modified, driving under the newly-opened Pattaya Tunnel with three or four detonations sounding like gunfire being audible.
Natthawut told police that the incident took place at 11pm on Saturday, adding that he and his friends had not fired a gun but that the sounds had been made by the backfire of an exhaust pipe after he intentionally caused the car’s engine to briefly shut down.
Natthawut added that he would like to apologise to other Facebook users for causing misunderstanding with his prank.
Police tested the car that appeared in the video and found that it could be driven to produce backfires that sounded like gun shots.
Police impounded the car to check for gunpowder traces and will charge the owner with illegally modifying it.