Her Royal Highness Princess Soamsawali, who turns 60 on Thursday, has supported the work of the AIDS Research Centre.

Those interested can receive PrEP drugs for free at the clinic and seven community healthcare centres across Thailand from now until July 20. For more information call 02-2516711-5.

An exhibition is being held inside the centre on this special occasion to educate people about the PREP program, which helps prevent HIV transmission.

Sixty scholarships were also granted to children of HIV-patients as a way of honoring Her Royal Highness.

Alexander Cazes, 26, had been detained since July 5 after he was arrested at a residence in Thawee Watthana district by officers acting on an extradition request from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.

He was found to have hanged himself with a towel in the bathroom of his cell in Bang Khen district at around 8am yesterday, police said.

The Canadian was supposed to be preparing himself to see a public prosecutor for the extradition process when officers found him dead, according to NSB commander Sommai Kongwisaisuk.

It remained unclear whether anybody witnessed the incident, since his cell was separate from the others, police said. However, they added that inmates at other cells had heard Cazes asking officials about his appointment with the public prosecutor about an hour before he was found dead.

Primary inspections indicated no evidence of a fight at the scene and no wound was found on his body, police said.

Cazes had been in Thailand for seven or eight years without any criminal record |in this country. He had a Thai wife and |apparently earned money from a computer business.

After his arrest, police confiscated Bt400 million worth of assets, including four Lamborghini supercars and three houses.

His case could have been prosecuted in Thailand but the FBI made a request for his extradition. Cazes had given his consent to be tried in the US, and Thai authorities had been proceeding accordingly, a senior NSB officer, Chayaphot Hasoonha, said.

CONFLICT over a collapsing stone-mill project has emerged as the strongest possible motive behind the merciless massacre of a village head’s family in Krabi province.

“Available evidence suggests the village head received money from investors in return for support for the project. But as he failed to deliver, these investors demanded their money back. That probably led to the killings,” a police source said yesterday.

“These investors have been affiliated with local politicians and influential figures.”

Worayuth Sunglung, a village head in Krabi’s Ao Luk district, was murdered in an execution-style shooting alongside his wife and six other family members inside their home on Monday night. Three other family members survived the attack with injuries. Only the youngest member, a three-month-old baby, was not harmed. According to the same police source, a survivor heard her attackers talking about money that was given to Worayuth.

The witness reportedly told police that she could remember all four attackers she had seen inside the house, although one of them was wearing a hood. She, however, did not see their accomplices who were positioned outside the house.

“She believes the hooded one must be someone her family knows,” the source said.

A sketch of the suspect’s appearance was circulated among local media yesterday but police denied releasing the sketch.

“Following the shootings, the attackers got out of the house and made a phone call as if to report the results to someone,” the survivor was quoted as saying.

All survivors have now been placed under police protection. Krabi Governor Pinij Boonlert also ordered that psychiatrists help the victims cope with the trauma.

Although the stone-mill conflict is now the main focus of the investigation, other motives are still 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.

‘Never before in Krabi’

Manas yesterday admitted that he had quarrelled with the village head. “But such conflicts are common during the work process. It is by no means serious enough to inspire an attack, let alone the massacre. A crime of this scale has never happened in Krabi before,” Manas said.

Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha has said the massacre had shaken public morale. He has instructed police to ensure the attackers are brought to justice, national police Commissioner Pol General Chaktip Chaijinda said.

“I am confident that we will be able to arrest the attackers,” Chaktip said.

Krabi police are now checking surveillance recordings from CCTV cameras along the route the assailants are believed to have used when fleeing the scene.

A local resident told police the attackers used a black Toyota Fortuner because they stopped to ask for directions to Worayuth’s house, saying something about a court order.

The gunmen also took Worayuth’s Toyota Yaris car after the shooting.

CCTV records suggest that the attackers took the route that could lead to Surat Thani, Phatthalung and Nakhon Si Thammarat provinces.

Central Police Forensic Science Division commander Pol Maj-General Tawatchai Mekpr-asertsuk said forensic tests were being conducted to collect fingerprints from a gun found at the crime scene.

“We are also examining bullets that have been taken out of the victims’ bodies,” he said.

Fourth Army Area chief Piyawat Nakwanich said the massacre was not related to unrest in the deep South.

“Attacks related to the unrest always end fast. But in this case, the attackers spent up to eight hours at the house of the victims,” he said.

“According to custom, candidates failing to get nominated as Supreme Court president remain in their existing positions. That was what had happened in the past,” he told a tense press conference at the Appeals Court.

“I could be the first person to be moved,” he said.

Sirichai had failed to get nominated by the Judicial Commission even though he was the most senior candidate.

The commission backed the next most senior candidate, Supreme Court vice president Cheep Jullamon, for the top job at the country’s highest court.

The panel gave no reason for its decision to overlook Sirichai, but a source from the nominating committee said he was deemed as lacking qualifications and not performing to expectations.

Sirichai said that he did not think it was lawful to appoint him an adviser to the Supreme Court president.

“What I can do is to take legal action,” he said, struggling with his emotions.

The senior judge said he was not worried when the Judicial Commission set up a fact-finding committee to investigate him.

He had done his duty honestly and with devotion over the past four decades of his career.

With a shaky voice, he said that had never thought of resigning.

“I have worked as a judge for 40 years and I still love this organisation.”

They have also claimed that police are overreacting by charging them with the robbery of police property. They have denied the crime.

The incident began when police detained four suspects, believed to be members of “Yan Wang” gang operating in Sai Mai area after they were involved in a heated argument at a petrol station in the district.

The argument started after a station employee threatened not to give them service as one of them was smoking, which is prohibited. They also appeared to be drunk.

Two policemen were called and one of them was hit and fell unconscious. The policeman claimed his mobile phone and police identity card were taken during the attack.

The suspects ran away and were later arrested.

At Sai Mai police station they continued to be noisy, and kicked chairs and tables. One of the suspects, Sopon Kosin, was seen in CCTV footage scolding police and asking if they were smart or good at their jobs. Later, another gang came to the station and fought with the first group before police stepped in.

The video footages of the incident went viral on social media and their behaviour drew criticism from the public even after they were in police custody. They are now being detained pending trial at Min Buri prison.

A court has set bail of Bt400,000 for each suspect.

Poonjit Tabhirun, mother of Sopon, told reporters that she and two other families sought help from the Justice Fund as they are poor.

“The bail money of Bt400,000 is too high for us to afford. So we need help from the Justice Fund,” she said.

The mother said her son admits committing the crimes except the robbery. “I talked to my son at the prison, he denied that he robbed of anything. Police should not charge him with this crime.”

Meanwhile, Tawatchai Thaikiew, deputy permanent secretary for justice, said he would take the request into consideration but said that not all requests are approved.

The fund is intended to help those who are poor and disadvantaged and do not have access to the justice system by themselves, he said.

Suspects who are not entitled to the fund are those involved in crimes of invading and destroying natural resources, raping minors, as well as security-related crime.

Their crimes should not impact on the peace and morals of society, he said, and they should not have a behaviour of rejecting the rules and laws of the country.

Police Lt-General Thanet Pinmuang-ngam, the caretaker commander of the Provincial Police’s Region 8, which has jurisdiction over the southern provinces, said the sketch published by the media was not that of a suspect.

“If we have a sketch, we will definitely inform the media,” he said.

The sketch in question was obtained by local reporters.

On Monday night, the village head in Krabi’s Ao Luk district, Worayuth Sunglung, was murdered in an execution-style shooting alongside his wife and six other family members inside their home.

Three other family members survived the attack with injuries. Only the youngest member, a three-month-old baby, was unharmed.