BANGKOK (The Nation/Asia News Network): Police believe the notorious Phatthalung crime boss who escaped from a hospital in Nakhon Si Thammarat while serving a 20-year sentence, is still in Thailand.
A manhunt has been launched for Chavalit Thongduang, 37, in Phatthalung and nearby provinces after he slipped out of the Nakhon Si Thammarat provincial hospital early on Saturday. He had allegedly faked an illness and was admitted to hospital last Friday (Oct 20).
A car that was believed to have been used in the escape was found near the Malaysian border, though police reckon it had been left there to deceive them into thinking he has left the country.
“But police believe Chavalit is still in Thailand,” a police source said.
Chavalit has been under the police eye since 2007 before he was convicted and sentenced to 20 years and three months in jail.
His term was to be completed on May 6, 2043.
Chavalit has been wanted for several criminal cases but has always managed to escape thanks to help from a certain Phatthalung politician.
He is accused of masterminding the abduction and murder of a police officer in Phatthalung’s Muang district in 2007. He is also suspected of masterminding the abduction of small narcotics dealers in the South to extort protection fees.
Sources say most of the crimes he is accused of took place in 2019 when he also tried to mastermind the jailbreak of his henchman and get a highway police officer in Phatthalung killed.
Though he claimed he was trying to change his ways, so he could become a local politician, he was arrested early this year.
After six months behind bars, he allegedly engineered an attack of fellow prisoner and archrival Chuk Rakjan.
This incident prompted the Corrections Department to move him to the Nakhon Si Thammarat maximum prison on Aug 7.
Chavalit often complained about feeling ill and requested treatment in hospital until he fled early on Saturday.
The Corrections Department is offering a 100,000 baht bounty for information about him.
