Metropolitan Police Commissioner Pol Lt Gen Sanit Mahathavorn said Songkram Ratanakhom was arrested at his rented apartment on Soi Praditphat 17 in Phayathai district, Samsen Nai sub-district, on Wednesday morning.

He was charged with murdering Supoj Maenram, 30. The chartered van driver was shot twice in the head and once in the chest at 10pm Tuesday while sitting in his van in front of his house on nearby Soi Pradiphat 21.

Sanit said a Beretta gun was found in Songkram’s flat.

The commission claimed the older man had been involved in an extramarital affair for several years with Supoj’s wife, whose age was not immediately known but described as “young”.

He’d bought her a four-baht gold necklace, but then learned that Supoj had pawned it and refused to buy it back. Songkram recovered the necklace himself but was angry at the husband, Sanit said.

Knowing that Supoj often slept in his van, Songkram found him there and shot him dead, Sanit said, saying the elderly man had admitted to the crime.

He said Songkram at first sought to flee, taking a bus to Ngam Wong Wan district, but changed his mind and returned home.

According to Sanit, Songkram acted out of sudden rage and the belief that Supoj treated his wife so poorly that he had provide for her.

Songkram re-enacted the crime for police at the scene and was then taken to Bang Sue police station and booked for murder.