PHUKET: The body of assassinated journalist Wisut ''Ae'' Tangwittayaporn, dressed in a symbolic red shirt, lay in a Phuket City temple tonight as police undertook to find and arrest his killers.
Suggestions that his savage murder this morning by a gunman may have involved women or a gambling debt have quickly been dismissed.
Police now believe that Khun Ae's life was taken because of his bold coverage of two land claims he had labelled as corrupt, purchases at Freedom Beach, south of Patong, and Nakalay Point in Kamala, north of Patong.
Officers undertook to be more specific tomorrow about which of the two controversial projects is likely to be their prime concern.
A party of Pheu Thai officials from Bangkok and Phuket media is due to visit Freedom Beach tomorrow - a trip that Khun Ae would have been on had he lived.
Other Phuket media reported on Freedom Beach but Khun Ae was the first, in his 'Inside Phuket' newspaper.
Deputy Region 8 Police Chief Major General Pisan Juldilok travelled to Phuket today to head the investigation, which has attracted national attention because of Khun Ae's outspoken journalism and his support for red politics on Phuket, a yellow stronghold.
This afternoon, Major General Pisan met with Khun Ae's wife, Jiraporn ''Ji'' Hosakul, who was sitting alongside him in the car when the killers struck. At the meeting were members of the Phuket media and staff from 'Inside Phuket.'
Five teams of police have been dedicated to the case, with security camera footage of the assassination by the motorcycle-riding gunmen in Phuket's main Thepkasattri Road being examined.
Khun Ji noted the numberplate of the motorcycle as it sped away and one of the killers left a pair of sunglasses behind.
If the killers hoped to silence Khun Ae and other journalists, his brutal murder is likely to produce the opposite effect.
Suggestions that his savage murder this morning by a gunman may have involved women or a gambling debt have quickly been dismissed.
Police now believe that Khun Ae's life was taken because of his bold coverage of two land claims he had labelled as corrupt, purchases at Freedom Beach, south of Patong, and Nakalay Point in Kamala, north of Patong.
Officers undertook to be more specific tomorrow about which of the two controversial projects is likely to be their prime concern.
A party of Pheu Thai officials from Bangkok and Phuket media is due to visit Freedom Beach tomorrow - a trip that Khun Ae would have been on had he lived.
Other Phuket media reported on Freedom Beach but Khun Ae was the first, in his 'Inside Phuket' newspaper.
Deputy Region 8 Police Chief Major General Pisan Juldilok travelled to Phuket today to head the investigation, which has attracted national attention because of Khun Ae's outspoken journalism and his support for red politics on Phuket, a yellow stronghold.
This afternoon, Major General Pisan met with Khun Ae's wife, Jiraporn ''Ji'' Hosakul, who was sitting alongside him in the car when the killers struck. At the meeting were members of the Phuket media and staff from 'Inside Phuket.'
Five teams of police have been dedicated to the case, with security camera footage of the assassination by the motorcycle-riding gunmen in Phuket's main Thepkasattri Road being examined.
Khun Ji noted the numberplate of the motorcycle as it sped away and one of the killers left a pair of sunglasses behind.
If the killers hoped to silence Khun Ae and other journalists, his brutal murder is likely to produce the opposite effect.
My heart goes out to Mr Tangwihayaporn's family RIP.The thugs who carried out this horrendous cowardly attack should be hunted down with the same vigor on the part of the police as that seen in the resent Vorasil Issara pub attack case.The capture of the gunmen should not be enough for the police this time, the figure or figures who ordered this should be hunted down no matter their status. Freedom of the press is sacrosanct and a bunch of gangsters and con men on this little island should not be allowed to intimidate journalists from their role of exposing the wrongs in our little society.
Posted by Scunner on January 13, 2012 00:54