After a tip-off that fugitive Boonleng Saithongkhoo, 48, and accomplices had gone to fell Siamese rosewood trees in the Nam Nao Forest, police and park officials moved in and clashed with the group on Wednesday night, resulting in Boonleng’s death. His wife Oranas Kaenpho was arrested with two bags of wood, though the other two unidentified accomplices escaped.

Ban Klang police, medical examiner and rescue workers went into the forest to remove the body and send it to a Phitsanulok morgue for autopsy.

Boonleng was accused of shooting dead forestry official Prasit Khummoo, 49, on October 14 last year as officials were trying to arrest him and other poachers in Phu Khiao. His accomplices – Arthit Klangsin and Song Klangthong – surrendered to police a few days later and implicated Boonleng as Prasit’s killer.