Three students arrested over Thai shootout

THAILAND - Three of the students who were part of a gunfight at Bang Na intersection that injured a bank employee on Thursday were arrested yesterday and will be tried in juvenile court. The Education Ministry has also forbidden the two institutions to enrol new students next year.

One of the arrested students, called Eve, faces the charge of carrying a weapon and using it in public. The other two face charges of attempting to physically harm others. Police are continuing to check surveillance camera recordings to identify more suspects.

Chanwit Tabsupan, director of the Office of the Private Education Commission, said fights always broke out among students at the start of every semester, so school authorities and the police should come up with plans to prevent such incidents.

According to statistics, violent battles between rivalling vocational school students had dropped in the past two or three years, and this is the first such incident this year.

Chanwit went to say that though his commission had organised a spiritual retreat for students to help them adjust their behaviour, it has not done much good.

As per the Education Ministry's latest policy, these two institutions will be forbidden to admit new students next year, and if their students are caught in any violent incidents, then the school would be closed down. The ministry has also called on the two schools to cooperate and help resolve the conflict.