Can’t tell a straight story
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| Mong Soi Min, or Sun |
Bang Bua Thong police in Nonthaburi on Wednesday nabbed Mong Soi Min, or Sun, for killing Meechai Panchai, 63, whom he hired to take him from his rented place in the district to his mother’s place in Bang Phli of Samut Prakan.
Meechai’s body, found with his hands tied behind his back and his head bashed in, was found dumped in a fish pond near Ramathibodi Hospital in Samut Prakan.
The killer had covered Meechai’s body with bushes but it was found by a Myanmar worker who tends to the ponds shortly after he was killed.
Police followed CCTV images along the route, which helped lead them to their suspect at his run-down home. Sun had made no apparent attempt to flee, and even kept the victim’s phone and his own mud-stained clothes he wore at the scene.
He also drove Meechai’s taxi back to his place, parking it about 200m away from the house. Earlier, he made a failed attempt to extort 20,000 baht from Meechai’s family in return for sparing the old man’s life.
Sun, who has a drug problem, according to his mother, offered a tangle of conflicting testimony, initially blaming a mystery Myanmar drug dealer for the killing.
He said the dealer tagged along with him in Meechai’s taxi to deliver drugs in Samut Prakan’s Klong Dan area.
He claimed the drug dealer argued with Meechai over a debt, and threatened Meechai with a knife. They left the taxi and told Sun to drive back to Bang Bua Thong, which he says was the last he saw of them.
This would help explain Sun’s otherwise baffling decision to keep key pieces of incriminating evidence, such as the victim’s taxi and phone. Sun claimed he called random numbers on the victim’s contact list until Meechai’s daughter-in-law, identified as “Nang”, answered.
He asked someone to come and collect the taxi, he claimed, but no one was interested.
Nang, whose recollection of the call is very different, said the caller demanded a ransom of 20,000 baht if they wanted to see Meechai alive again.
However, the family didn’t believe the kidnap tale, so did nothing about it. The next day, they heard Meechai’s body had been found at the pond.
Police heard from a gas station attendant, who said Meechai turned up to fill his tank while en route. He saw only one other person in the cab, identified as Sun.
This suggested Sun’s claims about a mystery drug dealer were nonsense. Police stepped up questioning until Sun admitted on Wednesday night that he had committed the murder alone.
Sun said he was carrying tools from his old job as a construction worker, including a hammer, when Meechai picked him up. He used the hammer to bash in the victim’s head.
The two agreed on a fare of 2,000 baht, but Sun admitted during the ride that he didn’t have the money, and offered to pay in drugs instead. Meechai objected, and Sun is said to have robbed him. He also forced Meechai to take him to the fish pond where the victim was to lose his life. Sun said he knew the area as he worked there on a building site before losing his job. Police charged him with robbery leading to the victim’s death and disguising a body.
Coin machine mafia strikes
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| Natthapol (circled) being chased in the soi. |
Chutikan (no surname given), 29, contacted the media concerning a probe by Nong Prue police of Bang Lamung district into the killing of her husband, Natthapol Chanpoom, 28.
The victim was called out to fix a water machine in Soi Map Yailea 34 by a mystery woman whom Chutikan believes was a decoy luring her husband to his death. CCTV images show a gang of men emerging from a spot nearby a building site to set upon him.
The images show the victim being chased to the mouth of soi, where he was attacked and died of impact wounds to his skull. Earlier, a friend who had taken him in his pickup to the job said he saw the men emerge, one of whom tried to block him from leaving, and smashed in his window with a spade.
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| Chutikan |
After Nonthawat’s pickup speeds from the scene, CCTV images show the second and third men following the first attacker, who has chased the victim towards the mouth of soi.
Five minutes later, the attackers walk back into the soi chatting as if nothing had happened.
Earlier, Chutikan said, a gang had threatened to take her husband’s life, claiming they had caught him stealing coins from the machines. The mystery accusers sent the pair a clip which, Chutikan said, simply showed her husband carrying out repairs, not stealing. The couple alerted police, but then Natthapol was killed.
The theft claim was to resurface again on the day of the attack, when rescue workers at the scene were told that Natthapol had been set upon by locals after they caught him prising open the machine. One man pulled him off his motorbike as he tried to flee, leading to his fatal injuries, it was claimed.
Chutikan said Nong Prue police initially tried to fob off Natthapol’s relatives with the same story, and it wasn’t until his family obtained CCTV images of the attack that they saw the claims were bogus. Police later revised their account. Weapons which the thugs were said to have used included a spade, baseball bat and golf club.
Nonthawat said he was present when the woman called his mate out to fix the machine. “He put it on speaker, so I heard everything. As we were heading there, she kept calling, trying to get us to hurry up,” he added.
Chutikan said her husband was the family’s main breadwinner. They have two young children. “He has been repairing machines for years, but recently decided to go out alone, serving customers directly. This may have upset his colleagues,” she said.
She claims his boss threatened to have him beaten up unless he stopped stealing from the company’s water machines. Natthapol had lost his job several days before, but his family dismisses claims of serial theft.
His wife said they were still looking for her husband’s phone, as it would contain the number of the person who lured him to the spot. A GPS tracking device sent its last signal from the scene of the attack.
While they are still awaiting the autopsy results, police say they are talking to various parties as they widen the probe.
Have EM device, will prosper
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| Police nab Wiset. |
District and volunteer defence officials nabbed Wiset (no surname given), 38, as he was entering a house in Huai Sakae of Muang district. Earlier, the district chief heard a man was openly selling drugs in the area.
When Wiset saw the officials, he fled inside, locking himself in the bathroom. Officials coaxed him out after half an hour. An initial search showed he was wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet on his left leg — the type usually fitted to crime suspects on bail release.
News reports did not say what offence he had committed, but the device evidently posed no obstacle to his illicit trade, as the man was a virtual walking drug store. The initial search found 50 ya ba pills “on his person”.
After taking him to the district office, officials found another 1,100 ya ba tablets hidden in his trousers, and an unspecified quantity of ya ice. They also found 11,000 baht in cash, wrapped in a bundle. Contemplating his fate, Wiset started crying. Officials sent him to Muang police for further action.
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