The Criminal Court on Tuesday sentenced four Chinese robbers each to a total of 33 years in jail for a violent, botched gun shop holdup in Bangkok early this year.
Sun Junwei, 27, Li Kunpeng, 26, Ma Geng, 34, and Zheng Yang, 30, were sentended for the armed robbery of Inter Arms shop on Charoen Krung Road in Bangkok's Phra Nakhon district on March 4.
Another gang member, Wu Xing Jun, was shot by police while fleeing the holdup scene and died of his wound.
The court heard that the five gang members rented two motorcycles from Pattaya, attached false licence plates and used them in the robbery. They also used two BB guns, folding knives and radio handsets during the crime.
Two of the gang first entered the Inter Arms shop, wearing woollen hats and motorcycle helmets. One of them stabbed the shop owner in the chest and lower body, causing serious injury. The shop owner tried to fight them off while being handcuffed.
Two other robbers then entered the shop and stabbed a shop employee. The shop owner recognised the firearms they were carrying as being BB guns, and cried out for help.
The four men stole rifles, shotguns, pistols, revolvers from the shop, and a Toyota Fortuner truck, worth 3.84 million baht in total.
They tried to escape from police and security guards in the area, threatening them with the two BB guns. Police quickly arrested three of them. The fourth fled, was shot and later died. Zheng Yang, the gang leader who did not enter the shop, was arrested in Nakhon Sawan province the following day.
Sun was sentenced to 33 years and 28 months in total and fined 3,000 baht for attempted murder, using false licence plates, unauthorised use of communication radios, carrying firearms in public and resisting arrest.
The other three were each sentenced to 33 years and 22 months and fined 3,000 baht for the same offences, except resisting arrest.
The sentences are cumulative. The maximum time they can serve is 20 years.