A CLOSE friend of the village head who was killed in a massacre alongside his family has come forward to deny any wrongdoing.
Chetdanai Thinphang-nga, an executive of a mill firm and a childhood friend of village head Worayuth Sunglung, has contacted a senior police officer to declare his innocence after the investigation identified a stone-mill conflict as a likely motive for the merciless murders.
“Now, investigators have summoned him for questioning,” a police source said yesterday.
Worayuth and his family were shot dead execution-style inside their home in Krabi’s Ao Luk district on Monday night. Eight died while three others survived the shooting. The only family member unharmed was Worayuth’s three-month-old son.
When contacted by police, Chetdanai said yesterday that he never had any conflict with Worayuth. “He was my close friend. We went to the same school,” he said.
Chetdanai refused to comment on money matters.
Police sources have revealed that one of the survivors said she heard her assailants talk about money that was given to Worayuth before the shooting occurred.
A source said that evidence suggests the village head received money from investors in return for support for a planned stone-mill project. However, the project did not go ahead because the planned project site is in an area recently declared a historical-site zone by the Fine Arts Department.
The investors’ demand that Worayuth return the money they spent might have led to a deadly conflict, according to a police officer speaking on condition of anonymity.
After emerging from a meeting on the case, Deputy National Police Commissioner Pol General Chalermkiat Srivorakhan said yesterday that police were now looking into Worayuth’s financial transactions. “At this point, we have not yet ruled out any possible motive,” he said.
Chalermkiat said police would also try to locate three vehicles involved in the case – a black Toyota Fortuner and a white Toyota Yaris that were used by the assailants and Worayuth’s Toyota Yaris that was taken by the attackers following the shootings.
Although the stone-mill conflict is the main focus of attention, other motives are being explored. Worayuth apparently had a conflict with Tambon Ban Klang Administrative Organisation chief executive Manas Chubutr, a court dispute with some encroachers, and drug issues.
Another police source said evidence suggested the assailants were professional hitmen based in Chumphon province.
“They might have also intended to make it look like Worayuth shot his own family members and himself because they used his gun in the shooting,” it said.
Central Police Forensic Science Division commander Pol Maj-General Tawatchai Mekprasertsuk admitted that it was difficult to collect evidence from the crime scene because the attackers carried out their operation carefully.
An informed source revealed that the attackers might have double gloved their hands to ensure there were no fingerprints left.
“Still, given that they spent more than seven hours at the house, we are confident that we will get evidence needed to track them down,” this source said.
SootinClaimon.Com 