Thai police officer dons sniper ghillie suit & crawls through rice fields to arrest sexual assault suspect

A Thai police officer used an unconventional tactic to apprehend a 20-year-old man, suspected of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl, in Nakhon Nayok, Thailand.

As part of a Dec. 16, 2024 operation, he donned a ghillie suit typically worn by snipers for camouflage, and crawled through rice fields for 300 metres so he could track down the man, Thai media reported.

This came after previous attempts at capture had failed due to the area's rural terrain.

Evaded capture after arrest warrant issued for sexual assault of girl, 12

Police major general Theeradej Thammasutee said that local police had received a report of a 12-year-old girl being sexually assaulted and abandoned by a roadside.

The girl had befriended someone known as “Ree” on Facebook, who invited her to hang out with him on Sep. 1.

Ree brought along a 26-year-old man, Sharif, and the three of them went to a resort in Nakhon Nayok.

There, they were joined by a 20-year-old man, Noppadol.

After the group ate snacks together, the first two men excused themselves to "look at a motorcycle", Thai media site Ejan reported.

Sometime after Noppadol was left alone with the girl, he allegedly sexually assaulted her by force.

When she asked to go home, Noppadol drove her to a roadside on his motorcycle and left her there.

An arrest warrant was issued for Noppadol on Dec. 11 after the girl filed a police report against him, Khaosod English reported.

However, he evaded capture multiple times, including a failed police pursuit in a rural area where he got away on a motorcycle.

The operation

Investigators eventually tracked Noppadol to Bang Nam Priao district in Chachoengsao province.

On Dec. 16, a police officer in full camouflage gear crawled over 300 meters through rice fields before using binoculars to spot Noppadol hiding beneath a house.

A team stormed the building and made the arrest, Ejan reported.

Still in the ghillie suit, the officer read out the arrest warrant to Noppadol.

Noppadol has since pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including human trafficking of a minor, deception, kidnapping, and sexual assault of a minor.

This is not the first time Thai police have adopted an unusual approach to arrest suspects.

On Dec. 3, a Thai police officer disguised himself as a BDSM 'sex wrestler' in a sting operation to catch an alleged rape suspect.

Top image from Ejan/Facebook