Patient plodding yields success in murder case

Patient plodding yields success in murder case

Chance sighting of 'Temple Boy' truck sticker leads to shooting suspects

The police investigation into the high-profile murder of environmental activist Thongnak Sawekchinda has so far yielded results, thanks to investigators' hard work.

Thongnak was shot dead by a gunman while sitting in his home in Samut Sakhon's Muang district on July 28.

The murder attracted sustained coverage in the media and police because the activist led anti-coal protests in his hometown that forced the provincial governor to suspend coal transport operations. He was killed about two weeks after he organised a big protest rally that blocked Rama II highway.

Seven suspects have been held in custody after the court rejected their bail requests.

The investigation team was headed by Charnchai Purathananon, chief of Samut Sakhon Provincial Police's investigation division.

The officer said the arrests were the result of investigators' perseverance in checking all possible leads related to the case, especially those taken from CCTV footage.

The task began with a review of footage taken by all surveillance cameras in Samut Sakhon city areas and nearby _ frame by frame. It took investigators almost 24 hours to spot two suspects, a motorcycle rider and his passenger, on footage from three surveillance cameras.

The pillion rider was suspected to be the gunman who shot Thongnak.

The three cameras are installed at 100 metres, 2km and 3km, respectively, away from where the murder took place. The first and the second camera captured an image of the two men riding on a motorcycle after the killing of Thongnak.

However, footage taken from the second camera showed the rider did not carry a passenger before the shooting. The rider was also filmed travelling alone by the third surveillance camera both before and after the attack. This showed the suspected gunman did not come with the motorcyclist in the first place and was picked up and dropped off somewhere, Pol Col Charnchai said.

Police identified the motorbike as a Yamaha Mio 125 GTX. It was a special model with fashionable mag wheels. Few are sold because the make is relatively expensive. This helped police narrow down the number of the motorcycles they had to examine. Police checked all Yamaha bikes with a similar description in Muang and neighbouring districts and discovered there were 128 of them. The investigators also looked into another suspect vehicle _ a black Mitsubishi Triton pickup truck with golden mag wheels. The pickup was seen following the motorcycle. It also had a sticker bearing the words Dek Wat (Temple Boy) on the back of the truck.

Both suspect vehicles headed to Ban Phaeo district. Investigators found the name "Temple Boy" on the sticker represented a car racing group headed by a man identified as Niphon Yantalapha, 34.

His group has five members, each of whom uses a Mitsubishi Triton.

There were two black pickups in the group, one of which belonged to Mr Niphon.

Police reviewed footage taken from security cameras near Thongnak's home and spotted Mr Niphon acting suspiciously in the area several times only a few days before the killing.

On July 31, three days after the murder, police rounded up the first two suspects _ Mr Niphon and Chakkaphong Kwanphanngam, 22, who allegedly drove the motorcycle carrying the gunman. Mr Chakkaphong provided useful information that led to the arrest of the third suspect identified as Sutchadet Thaprai, 27, who allegedly acquired the weapon from a firearms dealer.

Police later issued arrest warrants for four more suspects, including the alleged mastermind; a coal transport operator who allegedly arranged the murder; the alleged gunman; and a man who allegedly helped the gunman escape.