In a country where the going rate for a contract killing is around Thai baht 15,000 (500 dollars), the price paid to eliminate Thongnak Sawekchinda, an environmental activist, has caught the police by surprise.
'The 10,000 dollars paid to kill Thongnak is quite a lot for Thailand,' admits Col. Chaicharn Purathanont, who is leading the police investigation in Samut Sakhon, a province outside Bangkok with a range of industries using coal which was - the focus of the Sawekchinda’s activism. The money was distributed among seven men assembled to target Thongnak, 47, says the colonel, spreading a crumpled sheet of paper on his glass-topped desk. It is a photocopy containing the pictures, names and role of each man involved in the killing.
Yothin Theprian, the alleged gunman on that list of suspects, has already turned himself in. Police say he was paid 1,333 dollars for shooting Thongnak as the activist sat outside his noodles shop on the morning of Jul. 28.
The investigation has frustrated the victim’s friends, including fellow activist Chanchai Rungrotsakorn. 'We think there are more powerful people above those the police have identified. There are connections, networks, local businesses and politics...'
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Marwaan Macan-Markar @'Global Issues'
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