Narathiwat police fear hijacked pickup will be used for bomb attack

The driver of the Haad Thip plc truck, identified only as Uthai, told Chanae district police on Monday evening that he was robbed of his company vehicle by a group of six or seven men wearing paramilitary-like black clothing.

Uthai said that he mistook the men for security officials when they waved him down, so he stopped for them to check his pickup. However, he was forced out of the truck and ordered to hand over the keys at gunpoint.

The hijacking occurred at 4.10pm as he was driving back to his office in Narathiwat’s Muang district after visiting clients in Moo 1 village of Tambon Dusongyor in Chanae district.

Uthai said the hijackers had their faces covered and were armed with assault rifles.

Some left in the pickup while three others held him in a roadside forest for about an hour, before letting him walk free.

An investigation showed the hijacked pickup stopped at a construction materials shop on Thesabal 3 road in Tambon Tanyongmus of Rangae district at 5.10pm.

The 65-year-old shop owner said the armed occupants forced him to hand over a package of sweets he was carrying from the shop back to his house, then sped off. The shop owner, who was identified only as Akkarawit, told police the men may have mistaken the package for a cash box.

Pol Maj Gen Maitree Santayakul, commander of Narathiwat Police, said he instructed all road checkpoints in 13 districts to look out for the hijacked pickup for fear it would be used as a vehicle bomb in a terrorist attack. Hijacking vehicles and packing them with explosives to attack security and Thai state-related targets is a known tactic of insurgents in the deep South.