Guides arrested over military weapons

“We believe their work allowed them to acquaint themselves with members of minority groups engaged in the illegal weapons trade,” Provincial Police region 5 chief Pol Lt General Poonsap Prasertsak said on Sunday. 
The two suspects have been named as Prachan Jawana and Akara Pattarataweekul. 
Police and soldiers raided Prachan’s house in Lamphun province on Saturday morning after receiving reports that he often intimidated others with guns. 
“An investigation was launched after police received complaints,” Poonsap said. 
Enquiries led to a search of Prachan’s house, where a huge amount of military weapons were found. 
Prachan told police the weapons had been deposited there by Akara, so a search was then conducted at Akara’s house in Chiang Mai on Saturday evening. Among items found there were M16 machine-gun parts and more than 1,000 rounds of assault-rifle ammunition. 
Akara said he had been paid by a Tai Yai man, known as Saeng, to store the weapons. 
“I have kept such things for him three times before,” he said. 
Poonsap said police would investigate further to nail down all culprits.
“There must have been more accomplices and this network must have had links to drug-trafficking gangs,” he said.