The man police accused of being the killer of Phuket journalist Wisut ''Ae'' Tangwittayaporn told a media conference this afternoon that he had been the driver of the motorcycle, not the shooter.


PHUKET: Police have arrested a man they say fired the shots that killed corruption-hating Phuket journalist Wisut ''Ae'' Tangwittayaporn in the main-street murder that shocked the island.

Noppadol Plaisri, 41, is being brought to Phuket by helicopter for presentation to Phuket's media this afternoon.

The finding of the killer's motorcycle in a Phuket City canal at the weekend, as reported by Phuketwan, proved to be the breakthrough in the case.

Although the motorbike had been sprayed orange, Phuket police managed to trace it to a hirer in Patong, on Phuket's west coast.

The arrest in central Thailand followed, police said today. Apart from the fact that Khun Noppadol comes from Petchaburi, nothing more is known about what the police have uncovered.

Khun Ae, a well-known Phuket journalist who wrote and edited 'Inside Phuket,' was respected by his colleagues even though he was also a red political activist in largely yellow Phuket.

His wife Jiraporn ''Ji'' Hosakul was sitting in the passenger's seat of their Honda Jazz when a motorcycle cut the car off in Thapkasattri Road, Phuket's main thoroughfare, and the pillion passenger briefly alighted to pump four shots through the windscreen at Khun Ae on Thursday.

It is believed the accused man was first taken for questioning at Region 8 Police Headquarters in Surat Thani and will be flown by helicopter to Phuket this afternoon.

Friends and fellow journalists gathered at a Phuket City temple at the weekend to mourn Khun Ae. It appears their plea to Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra for swift action has been answered.

International journalism organisations have unanimously condemned the killing of Khun Ae. Other observers see it as a measure of the levels of corruption on Phuket.