Thai Authorities Arrest 4 For Selling Gun to Mall Shooter – The Diplomat

ASEAN Beat | Society | Southeast Asia

Thai police yesterday arrested 4 males suspected of illegally promoting modified firearms to {the teenager} who went on a lethal taking pictures spree at a ritzy shopping center within the Thai capital Bangkok on Tuesday.

In response to a report by Reuters, two of the 4 had been arrested in Bangkok and two in Yala province in southern Thailand. They’ve been detained on suspicion of promoting the 14-year-old shooter a clean gun that had been modified to shoot actual bullets.

Reuters quoted a police official as saying that the lads had been caught in possession of unlawful firearms, narcotics, and instruments that that they had used to switch pistols. He added that they had been additionally discovered with livestreaming gear, which the official implied that that they had been utilizing to promote weapons on social media.

The taking pictures at Siam Paragon, one in all Asia’s most well-known procuring facilities, left two folks lifeless – a Chinese language nationwide and a citizen of Myanmar – and injured 5 others. {The teenager} has since been charged with 5 prison counts, together with premeditated homicide and unlawful possession of a firearm.

Thailand has the very best price of gun possession in Southeast Asia. In response to the Small Arms Survey, there are greater than 10 million firearms within the palms of civilians in Thailand, solely 6.2 million of which have correct authorized documentation. Whereas mass shootings are uncommon, the nation sees frequent gun-related incidents and the nation’s  strict possession guidelines are sometimes circumvented.

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The Siam Paragon taking pictures has had an uncommon political influence in Thailand. Whereas it has concerned fewer victims than different latest mass shootings, reminiscent of final yr’s bloodbath at a day care heart in Nong Bua Lamphu province, which took the lives of 36 folks, the truth that it befell on the heart of the Thai capital, slightly than on the nation’s periphery, has created strain for motion. The incident can be a setback to Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin’s efforts to revive the nation’s vacationer business, which remains to be but to get better absolutely from the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The taking pictures has already prompted Srettha to announce a tightening of gun management measures. “I’ve spoken with the nationwide police chief concerning the proliferation of on-line gun gross sales,” he stated. “We’re implementing stricter controls to make sure that younger folks can’t simply get their palms on these harmful weapons.”

Particularly, Thai Nationwide Police Chief Torsak Sukvimol stated on Wednesday that Thailand will shut authorized loopholes referring to the present firearm classifications, underneath which the clean gun utilized by the shooter was not labeled as a deadly firearm, and ban imports of clean weapons, BB weapons, and imitation firearms. Torsak additionally stated that police will type a workforce to sort out the unlawful sale of firearms on-line. In response to Reuters, the Thai authorities may also cease issuing further permits for gun imports and possession.