Police yesterday arrested three men who allegedly poisoned a 50-year-old bull elephant to death for its tusks in Ayutthaya last week.
Mahouts and their elephants surround a vehicle containing three suspects allegedly involved in the killing of Khlao, a 50-year-old bull elephant, in Ayutthaya last week. The suspects were being taken for a re-enactment of the crime. Police later cancelled it amid fears for their safety. SUNTHORN PONGPAO
The suspects were identified as former teacher Panya Srijamdee, 60, Manot Dokmaikeaw, 23, and Narongdej Srijamdee, 32. The three are from Suphan Buri province, Pol Maj Gen Sriwara Rungsipharmnakul, acting commissioner of Provincial Police Bureau 1 said.
The suspects were caught in different locations. Mr Panya was apprehended at his house in Doembang Nangbuat district of Suphan Buri; Mr Manot at a construction site in Ayutthaya’s Uthai district; and Mr Narongdej at his wife’s house in Rayong province.
During the announcement of their arrest at a press conference yesterday in Ayutthaya, Panya and Mr Manot showed police the bull’s tusks, weighing 19kg, which police said they had sawn off Khlao, the elephant they allegedly poisoned to death.
Police said the two men told them they had been hired by a customer to find elephant tusks. They spotted Khlao being tied to a tree by the Lop Buri River last Friday and thought they had found easy prey.
Panya was responsible for poisoning the bull to death, Mr Manot cut off its tusks and Mr Narongdej drove a pickup truck which transported the tusks to be hidden near a house in Suphan Buri, police said.
The suspects said they usually hunted wild animals to order for customers in Yaowarat, according to police.
Panya was arrested for poisoning a Bengal tiger to death near Bueng Chawak lake in Suphan Buri in 2010 and was sentenced to a year and six months in jail. However, he escaped after his conviction and has been on the run ever since, police said.
The suspects were brought to the scene where the bull elephant was killed in Ayutthaya for a re-enactment yesterday evening. However, the re-enactment was later cancelled as angry mahouts with at least 10 elephants as well as hundreds of locals tried to attack the three men.
Laithongrian Meephan, the owner of the Ayutthaya Royal Elephant Kraal, or Wang Chang Ayutthaya Lae Paniat, in Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya district, called for tougher laws against cruelty to and the killing of wild animals.
He demanded there be harsher penalties for repeat offenders.
Pol Gen Chalermkriet Sriworakhan, a police inspector-general, said police officers will expand their investigation to find the mastermind behind the killing of the elephant.
Khlao had appeared in the Hollywood blockbuster Alexander and performed in a royal event. His tusks are estimated to be worth about a million baht.
Authorities believed the jumbo, weighing 4.9 tonnes, was poisoned with a strong toxic substance as the bull elephant was thought to have collapsed quickly after ingesting it.
