Thai Hitmen Busy - 1997 Article

[Buff-horns]

Bang for the Baht

Thailand's hitmen are busy these days, killing business people. Their

orders come from some very powerful figures

By Anthony Davis Asiaweek.com (this article from 1997 - RDN)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

THE MURDER HAD PROFESSIONAL hit written all over it. One evening last

April, a motorbike drew up beside a silver Mercedes limo, just as it

slowed at a speed bump in a posh Bangkok housing estate. The pillion

rider raised a Beretta pistol, took practiced aim and squeezed off one

shot. The 9mm bullet smashed through a rear window, piercing the heart

and lung of the distinguished front-seat passenger. Hired killer

Naruethuk Ountragul had mortally wounded Saengchai Sunthornwat, chief

of the Mass Communications Organization of Thailand (MCOT). By the time

the official's frantic wife Watcharee pulled up to aid the dying man,

the assassin was gone.

Why did someone order Saengchai hit? In a word, greed. And that says a

lot about the dizzying social changes prosperity has thrust on Thai

society. Not that killers-for-hire are a new phenomenon; they have long

practiced their deadly arts in the lawless provinces. But in the past,

more often than not, contracts were politically inspired. Today the

person ordering the hit is more likely a "respectable" businessman (or

woman). "The number of these cases is going up," says top human-rights

lawyer Thongbai Thongbao. "This is a reflection of social and economic

problems and the growth in illegal businesses."

Nowhere perhaps do the hired killers find more work (and more money)

than in the murky world where hard-knuckle business and money politics

meet and merge. As one Sino-Thai businessman who works in Bangkok's

problem-plagued real estate industry puts it: "If you cut corners

yourself or do business with people who do, you need to know whose

interests you are treading on. People can get killed."

Whether Dr. Nicharee Makarasarn understood that crucial rule of thumb

will never be known. Last October, the 40-year-old anesthetist and

teacher at Chulalongkorn Hospital was shot dead as she drove away from

her Bangkok home. Police believe Nicharee fell victim to a business

dispute between her elderly mother, whose affairs she managed, and

wealthy Bangkok entrepreneur, Sukhum Cherdchuen. Nicharee's family had

filed a lawsuit against Sukhum over a failed land deal, and he faced a

$4-million settlement. Sukhum is an appointed senator, his apparent

qualification being the size of his bank account and the gratitude of

friendly politicians. He was later fingered by the hitmen and is now on

trial.

It seems hardly coincidental that politicians have also been implicated

in the shooting of MCOT chief Saengchai. Police arrested former Chiang

Rai MP Thawee Puttachan for allegedly hiring the gunman. But

authorities at first suspected that the real mover behind the hit was

another former MP, businesswoman Ubol Boonyachalothorn, from

northeastern Yasothorn. She was reportedly furious when Saengchai

revoked the broadcasting rights to one of her companies as part of his

campaign to clean up the corruption-riddled MCOT. Ubol was arrested and

interrogated, and is today free after the prosecutors dropped the case

for lack of evidence.

The men who do the dirty work for an all-too-respectable criminal elite

usually take the rap. They rarely meet their employers or know whose

lives they are extinguishing. It's an unforgiving profession but one

not without cachet. The hired guns draw on the time-honored rural

tradition of the nak leng, swaggering tough guys with their own code of

loyalty and honor, half-mobster, half-Robin Hood. Says Pasuk

Phongpaichit, an economics professor at Chulalongkorn University who

has written extensively on Thai corruption: "Villagers needed to defend

themselves against abuses by the central authorities." And that job

often fell to the nak leng.

The nak leng as hired killer first emerged around World War I. But it

was only after World War II that professional gunmen established

themselves as a criminal fraternity with its own distinct sub-culture.

In the post-war years army strongman Sarit Thanarat and police chief

Pao Sriyanond wielded sweeping powers in the kingdom and political

assassinations were the stock-in-trade. But in the '70s and '80s gunmen

began gathering around fast-rising provincial entrepreneurs. Known in

Thailand as jaopor and often of lowly Chinese immigrant extraction,

these godfathers rode the rough ride of the kingdom's economic takeoff.

Self-made men, they happily cut corners in a world where local

government was weak, law was negotiable and money spoke loudly.

Chonburi province early on earned notoriety both for the power of its

jaopor and the brazenness of its hitmen. Situated between Bangkok and

Cambodia on the coast, Chonburi became in the 1970s the center of a

thriving smuggling trade in drugs, arms, cigarettes and liquor. The

chaotic boom spawned new wealth, new power -- and spectacular gang

wars.

In 1981, Chonburi godfather "Sia" (Tycoon) Jiew died when gunmen armed

with assault rifles, shotguns and grenade launchers attacked his

Mercedes in broad daylight. Passing motorists thought they were

watching a film shoot. The guestlist for Sia Jiew's funeral spoke

volumes about the chummy ties between national leaders and provincial

powerbrokers. Among more than 1,000 mourners that included army and

police brass were elder statesman Kukrit Pramoj and Boonchu

Rojanastien, then deputy PM. None of that prevented Sia Jiew's son and

putative heir Parn from being dispatched in another high-caliber

rub-out three years later.

Today, the lucrative fiefdom of Chonburi has been taken over by Somchai

Khunpluem. Better known as "Kamnan (Headman) Poh," he is the

quintessential self-made man. A grocer's son with four years primary

education, he started out as a day laborer on a fishing boat. Now 59,

he is a household name throughout the kingdom. Kamnan Poh reaped

massive profits in the 1980s from real estate, hotels, massage parlors

and whisky distribution. In 1989, he became mayor of the beach resort

Bang Saen -- unopposed. Kamnan Poh has thrown his weight behind various

political parties, including the Social Action Party, Chart Thai and,

at least briefly, the New Aspiration Party of current Prime Minister

Chavalit Yongchaiyudh. Of course, the Godfather of Chonburi did not get

where he is today by playing by the rules. He once described himself as

"half-businessman half-gangster" and has noted matter-of-factly that in

Chonburi "bad guys must die." And they have -- in considerable numbers.

Somchai's would-be nemesis is Pol. Maj.-Gen. Seri Temiyavej, whose

unwavering incorruptibility has made him one of Thailand's most

respected figures. Seri has crossed swords with the well-connected

Somchai on several occasions. In 1990 more than 300 police commandos

called at his house to search for arms. To no one's surprise Somchai

was conveniently not at home and no guns turned up. Clearly irritated

by the unwanted attention, he later complained: "My hands are tied.

Whenever there is a case of murder in Chonburi, they point their finger

at me."

And yet despite sporadic police "crackdowns," Somchai has survived and

prospered. "A policeman like Seri can never stay for long," reflects

one observer. "He can't clean up because people higher than him in the

police can't protect him." Indeed, Seri has more than once been

sidelined to "inactive posts" in Bangkok. Somchai, meanwhile, is

enjoying his passion for cultivating bougainvillea, overseeing a broad

range of businesses, and acting as an investment consultant to Japanese

companies operating on the Eastern Seaboard. He has parlayed his

enormous economic and political clout into respectability of a kind:

two sons have sat in Parliament.

As a breeding ground for gunmen, however, Chonburi has never challenged

Petchburi, a coastal province that backs onto the Burmese border and

has long been another center for smuggling, as well as lottery and

gambling rackets. Like Chonburi, it has a long tradition of powerful

jaopor. Most famous is the Angkinan clan of Chinese businessmen whose

close ties with the local police and military earned them the sobriquet

the "khaki mob." Clan leader Piya Angkinan, like his brother and

cousin, has served several terms as an MP. One time a journalist asked

him why he traveled without bodyguards. Wasn't he afraid of his rivals?

His deadpan response: "I used to have enemies, but all of them died."

While the provinces of Petchburi and Chonburi are well-known

blackspots, the enforcer-bodyguard can today find steady work

throughout Thailand, especially in the fast-growth provinces near

Bangkok and on the central plains. "There are all kinds of illegal

activity that require these professional gunmen," says Pasuk. "And not

all of them are necessarily linked to major jaopor." Illegal logging,

drug-running, prostitution, protection rackets and simple strong-arm

debt-collection all require enforcers. In the capital, illegal gambling

dens are multi-billion-baht money-spinners where tens of millions

change hands every night. "Owners say they're not criminals," says an

insider. "But they need to have gunmen around to protect them. Even if

they've paid off the police they can't guarantee they won't be raided

by rivals or that quarrels won't break out inside."

Estimating the number of hired killers on the prowl in Thailand is not

an exact science. Some say there are as many as 5,000; a more realistic

guesstimate is a pool of 2,000 to 3,000 men with weapons and training.

Many do not set out to become gunmen but start their careers as

bodyguards to the jaopor. Still, the pressure to impress the boss can

become intense -- and the hired thugs try to outdo one another to prove

their loyalty. That may mean taking a life. The virtually feudal bonds

linking the hired retainer to jaopor can be difficult for non-Thais to

grasp. As one lawyer with experience of such cases says: "If a gunman

is really trusted, even if captured he won't point to his boss."

Some see themselves as real-life Rambos and think little of operating

by day with massive firepower. Such were the men who blew away land

tycoon Songsak Poommek just last month in Nahkorn Pathom, west of

Bangkok. After one attempt on his life, Songsak, 42, was taking no

chances and went everywhere with an armed cop. But he was no match for

the four gunmen who opened fire one morning with assault rifles from

the back of a pick-up truck. Both Songsak and the officer died in a

hail of bullets. These days, such military-style hits merit a massive

and draconian response. In a scene that is becoming ever more familiar,

hundreds of police commandos backed by helicopters descended on Nakhorn

Pathom. When the shooting stopped one gunmen was dead. Another was

later captured. To no one's great surprise, the dead hitman was a cop.

"A lot of police have contact with local jaopor and politicians," says

a crime journalist. "When you look at their official salaries, it's not

surprising that some get involved in this type of work."

While killing people can be lucrative, it depends on who is being

rubbed out, who wants it done and who is pulling the trigger. Mafia

retainers may earn just $2,000 a hit. But hardened professionals

working in squads of three or four will charge anywhere from $12,000 to

$40,000 per assassination. The gunmen arrested for the murder of Dr.

Nicharee claim that Senator Sukhum paid them $20,000. Of that, the

triggerman got $8,000, the driver $2,000 and the two middlemen $5,000

apiece.

The hired killer's modus operandi seems to be changing. In deference,

perhaps, to the sensibilities of a rising middle class, the fully

automatic, in-your-face celebration of jaopor power appears to be on

the way out. More in vogue these days are the low-key, drive-by hits

that claimed Dr. Nicharee and MCOT chief Saengchai. Says one police

officer: "People are no longer prepared to put up with the use of war

weaponry to settle business disputes."

The kings of the profession are lone-wolf gunmen who maintain a low

profile. Men like Paisak. A professional hitman in his mid-40s with two

kids, Paisak (not his real name) is a soft-spoken man with a passion

for reading and an intellectual curiosity that extends far beyond

Thailand. His favorite pastime is cultivating shrubs and flowers. By

day he is a weapons instructor at a military facility several hours

drive from Bangkok. From time to time Paisak takes on "other work." He

speaks of his moonlighting with obvious reluctance. Paisak first killed

as a teenager, he says. Since then, years of military training and

discipline have honed the skills required to execute a hit efficiently

and dispassionately. Nor is Paisak prone to the whisky-fueled bragging

that has cost lesser men careers and imperiled prominent patrons. That

level of professionalism doesn't come cheap. For his last job Paisak

says he got $40,000. There is no reason to believe he is exaggerating.

Headquarters for the war on hired killers is located at the Police

Information System Center in downtown Bangkok. Its latest weapon is a

$14-million computer system; when fully online next year, it will link

a central database with 600 terminals around the country and cover

everything from stolen vehicles to missing people to hired killers.

Local officials will be asked to constantly update files on known or

suspected guns-for-hire. "Files will include details about their names,

nicknames, families, known hang-outs, the type of gun they favor, and

whom they're connected to," says Police Col. Pairat Pongcharoen, a keen

advocate of greater computerization in a woefully under-funded police

force. Gunmen will be divided into three categories: pros who work in

squads, lone-wolves like Paisak and amateurs. The database lists about

500 killers-for-hire nationwide, down from some 750 before the last

general election when provincial gunmen traditionally cash in big

killing political canvassers. That is not to say 250 gunmen were

arrested, explains Pairat. They were invited in for chats at their

local police stations and discouraged "Thai-style." Says Pairat with a

smile: "No one wants to go to prison or be 'suppressed.'"

Understandably enough, these days. When hardened criminals are unmoved

by friendly dissuasion, cops fall back on the "kill-'em-all" school of

crime-busting, which seems to be gaining ground fast. In December,

police commandos executed six handcuffed gunmen with shots to the head.

They had "resisted arrest" after a drug bust. The so-called Suphanburi

Massacre was defended by a defiant Deputy Police Chief Gen. Salang

Bunnag -- and tacitly approved by the government.

Despite police fire- and computer-power, those ruthless enough to hire

a gunman know the chances of being nailed are low. Col. Pairat reckons

only half of all assassins are ever brought to justice. As for

convicting the person who orders the hit, the odds become even lower:

killings are invariably contracted through at least one layer of

brokers. "In practice it is difficult for police or public prosecutors

to punish those who hire gunmen," reflects lawyer Thongbai. "It comes

down to a lack of direct evidence."

Consider the Saengchai murder. Hitman Naruethuk is serving a life

sentence in Bang Kwang Central Prison. But the man who allegedly hired

him, ex-MP Thawee, is fighting the case in court, while Ubol, the woman

that police had alleged was behind Thawee, is walking around free.

At difficult moments, Thailand's elite tends to close ranks and take

care of its own. Small-fry do time; rarely, if ever, do the rich and

powerful. In the case of Dr. Nicharee, investigators believe they have

a solid case against Senator Sukhum and, significantly, refused him

bail. Not that it was easy to get him behind bars; the Senate voted to

uphold Sukhum's parliamentary privilege, which ruled out his arrest

while parliament was sitting. And it still won't be easy to convict.

Says a Sino-Thai businessman: "Whether Sukhum goes to prison really

depends on just how good his connections are."

Ultimately, reining in Thailand's gunmen and those who employ them

hinges on fundamental political issues of the coming decade:

constitutional reform, more transparent government, excising

money-politics and the corruption it spawns. Driven by the rising

frustrations of an increasingly vocal middle class and an assertive

press, the pressures for change are mounting. But few underestimate the

resilience of the old order. "I don't see any improvement in the short

term," says Pasuk. "We need more courageous people, particularly judges

and prosecutors. But I don't see that, least of all in the judiciary."

For the time being, it looks like business-as-usual for Thailand's

hired guns.

Edited September 17, 2005 by RDN

[Guest endure]

Bang for the Baht

Thailand's hitmen are busy these days, killing business people. Their

orders come from some very powerful figures

By Anthony Davis Asiaweek.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Today, the lucrative fiefdom of Chonburi has been taken over by Somchai

Khunpluem. Better known as "Kamnan (Headman) Poh," he is the

quintessential self-made man. A grocer's son with four years primary

education, he started out as a day laborer on a fishing boat. Now 59,

he is a household name throughout the kingdom. Kamnan Poh reaped

massive profits in the 1980s from real estate, hotels, massage parlors

and whisky distribution. In 1989, he became mayor of the beach resort

Bang Saen -- unopposed. Kamnan Poh has thrown his weight behind various

political parties, including the Social Action Party, Chart Thai and,

at least briefly, the New Aspiration Party of current Prime Minister

Chavalit Yongchaiyudh.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

How old is this article?

[kat]

I like Pasuk Phongpaichit, and have read most of his books. The nak leng actually precedes WW 1, but was possibly called something else.

[Eric Davis]

1997

http://www.asiaweek.com/asiaweek/97/0328/is1.html

[richard10365]

Thats just way too much to read. I think I'm falling asleep.

[terdsak_12]

Old old news!

[astral]

Thailand has too many guns around, rather like the good ol' US of A

[womble]

Old news, but it's still facinating reading. Thanks for the post.

[meelousee]

So little time so much to do.

Shiracha John you are next if i can arrange it.. snicker snicker snicker

[RDN]

I've edited the title and put a note at the top of the first post... just in case anybody thought this was "news".

[thaibebop]

Thailand has too many guns around, rather like the good ol' US of A

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well all Thailand has to do is pass a law and I am sure the hitmen will turn in their guns and use arrows and knifes instead. There problem sovled!

[meelousee]

I've edited the title and put a note at the top of the first post... just in case anybody thought this was "news".

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I just busted a gut

[sbk]

Thailand has too many guns around, rather like the good ol' US of A

Actually, I remember reading somewhere that Thailand has double the per capita murder rate of the US.

And as for old news, well, hired hitmen are still around. Now you are getting more people hiring them for personal kills as well as business and political. Remember that doctor whose wife was found dead in her car with their toddler still in the car with her? If I remember the case correctly he was convicted of hiring someone to kill his wife (yet spare the poor traumatised kid). Not so much "old news" as "recurring news".

[Johpa]

Old old news!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I remember reading that article when it was first published. That article could have been published on any day over the past several decades, inlcuding today, and, apart from specific names, little has changed although I would argue that most gumen are from the ranks of the police and not the traditional nak leng mubaan.

[STEALTH K3]

Would make a good film

[sriracha john]

So little time so much to do.

Shiracha John you are next if i can arrange it.. snicker snicker snicker

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Just for the record and clarity sake... You are threatening to arrange the murder of a TV member?

Just how crazy a lunatic are you????

[snoophound]

Just a pointless posting of an old news clip.

Common knowledge that a "hit"in thailand can bearranged very cheap.

Seem to remember a kiwi conman/boileroom operator getting shot for 20k baht a couple of years ago.

So little time so much to do.

Shiracha John you are next if i can arrange it.. snicker snicker snicker

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Just for the record and clarity sake... You are threatening to arrange the murder of a TV member?

Just how crazy a lunatic are you????

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>