The Thai air force will play host to one of Thailand’s most notorious fugitives, as it transports him home after his apprehension on the Indonesian tourist paradise island Bali. He has been on the run for many months from charges related to drug trafficking and a series of murders in his homeland.
The fugitive, Chaowalit Thungduang, escaped from authorities in Thailand while he was receiving medical care in a hospital. When he was arrested in Bali, he was using a falsified Indonesian National ID card, which he obtained shorty after his arrival in Aceh—Indonesia’s northernmost province—after a 17-hour journey by speedboat from India.
Chaowalit—who also goes by the street name “Pang Na Node”—was arrested during a police raid on his apartment in the Badung regency in Bali. Officers seized four cell phones and a number of fake identity documents during the raid. Hundreds of police officers were involved in the recapture operation, which cost over $276,000.
Thailand Narcotics Control Board’s Secretary General Phanurat Lukboon said that one of the seized fake identity documents was a birth certificate in the name of Sulaiman, which Chaowalit allegedly used in obtaining other documentation. They also found an passbook for an Indonesian bank account.
Phanurat said that he believes someone in Indonesia must have aided Chaowalit in entering the country. Police are currently attempting to identify the mastermind behind the operation.
Tawee Sodsong, Thialand’s Minister of Justice, traveled to Indonesia to meet with the captured fugitive and to arrange his transport back home where he will face the sentence for the charges he was fleeing. Chaowalit was sentenced in absentia to life in prison on one of the attempted murder charges.
Sodsong said that Chaowalit was impressed by the competence displayed by the authorities who managed to track him through several countries as he made his escape.
The international operation was aided by an extradition agreement between Thailand and Indonesia, which was signed in 1978.
