Phuket newsman killed in gun attack

Phuket Gazette

Three of the four bullets fired struck Mr Wisut in the upper body. Photo: Atchaa Khamlo

Phuket newsman Wisut 'Ae Inside' Tangwitthayaporn (right) meets Wichai Phraisa-ngop about the red-shirt movement in Phuket in 2009. Mr Wichai was Phuket Governor at the time, and is now a Phuket Senator. Photo: Gazette file

PHUKET: -- A Phuket newsman was shot dead by a man riding pillion on a motorbike this morning.

Wisut “Ae Inside” Tangwitthayaporn, 40, was driving with his wife to Provincial Hall in Phuket Town when the ambush was sprung.

He had just pulled out of the entrance of Srisuchart Grandview onto Thepkrasattri Road and was intending to make a U-turn on the main road when a motorbike with two riders cut him off and forced him to stop in the middle of the southbound lane.

The unidentified gunman then fired four shots through the windshield of Mr Wisut’s Honda Jazz, striking Mr Wisut in the chest.

Mr Wisut, owner and editor of Inside Phuket newspaper and editor of Phuket E-news, was a well-known member of the red-shirt community in Phuket and is known to have participated in the red-shirt demonstrations in Bangkok a year ago.

Mr Wisut was rushed to Vachira Phuket Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at about 10:30am.

Police have yet to announce any possible motives for the attack.

Source: http://www.phuketgaz...ticle11976.html

-- Phuket Gazette 2012-01-12

RIP

Phuket is so wonderful nowadays ..... road accidents , murders , jet ski scams etc ...... I really should think to go there for my next holidays ....

Phuket is so wonderful nowadays ..... road accidents , murders , jet ski scams etc ...... I really should think to go there for my next holidays ....

Another Hub?

Looks like the chickens have come home to roost.

Wonder if it was because he was a Red Shirt supporter, or because of something he published in his newspaper.... (Or both)

Wonder if it was because he was a Red Shirt supporter, or because of something he published in his newspaper.... (Or both)

Sure there will be an interesting story to come out here. RIP to his family anyway ..

Looks like the chickens have come home to roost.

Meaning?

It's always just the question how much somebody's willing to pay.....

The result of mafia corruption running unchecked in Phuket. It will only get worse and worse until the Government realises the value of cleaning the place up. It needs a replacement of every official at every level especially those higher up and especially those where the posts have to be paid for - which is all of them pretty much.

Dream on .....

Phuket is so wonderful nowadays ..... road accidents , murders , jet ski scams etc ...... I really should think to go there for my next holidays ....

I've never been to Phuket, and never had a desire to visit. This is obviously a targeted killing, so no threat to visitors (unless caught in the crossfire) but it just seems like a sleazy place to me.

Hope it wasn't due to the reporting of any particular story.

Unfortunately he isn't the first journalist getting murdered here. Often they are after exposing someone involved in something lucrative, such as property development.

RIP .......... a tragic loss . Phuket certainly seems quite unsettled currently , editor and Red shirts supporter ..hmmmmm .

What can you say ?

The result of mafia corruption running unchecked in Phuket. It will only get worse and worse until the Government realises the value of cleaning the place up. It needs a replacement of every official at every level especially those higher up and especially those where the posts have to be paid for - which is all of them pretty much.

Dream on .....

Until people wake up and vote with their feet and go elsewhere NOTHING will happen. They do not care and would love to see the foreigners leave...until they discover they would have to really WORK for a living. All foreign embassies should place Phuket on a travel warning to avoid.

I wonder how much that hit cost, what's the going rate for a high profile homicide in Phuket these days?

A number of slanderous posts and negative political posts have been removed.

Unfortunately he isn't the first journalist getting murdered here. Often they are after exposing someone involved in something lucrative, such as property development.

He was reporting on a corruption scandal involving title deeds for very lucrative beach front property on Phuket.

Hmmm... by the looks of the bullet holes, and since the bullet holes are high on the windshield but hit the man in the upper body, the gunman must have been standing on the hood of the car, or standing at the side but reaching over to fire through the windshield.

Phuket is so wonderful nowadays ..... road accidents , murders , jet ski scams etc ...... I really should think to go there for my next holidays ....

I've never been to Phuket, and never had a desire to visit. This is obviously a targeted killing, so no threat to visitors (unless caught in the crossfire) but it just seems like a sleazy place to me.

Phuket aka Hades. Never been there (despite my wife repeated requests to pay the place a visit) and have no desire to go there. Far too many Farhangs and crooks there. Better go to Koh Chiang before the spoil that paradise island.

Unfortunately he isn't the first journalist getting murdered here. Often they are after exposing someone involved in something lucrative, such as property development.

You may be right.

The result of mafia corruption running unchecked in Phuket. It will only get worse and worse until the Government realises the value of cleaning the place up. It needs a replacement of every official at every level especially those higher up and especially those where the posts have to be paid for - which is all of them pretty much.

Dream on .....

Until people wake up and vote with their feet and go elsewhere NOTHING will happen. They do not care and would love to see the foreigners leave...until they discover they would have to really WORK for a living. All foreign embassies should place Phuket on a travel warning to avoid.

I think if the foriegners left and tourists stopped going the place would be bankrupt and you couldn't give the hotels away.

Murders occur on a daily basis all over Thailand, as do hits of this nature. This hit is not unique to Phuket as anyone who reads the daily Thai papers will know.

I do hope its not related to any investigations but it wouldn't be the first time journalists are targeted for reporting scandals, either through violence or through other means.

Phuket has really turned into a mafia / criminal hotspot in Southeast Asia over the last few years.

@F4UCorsair: even if it was no farang who was killed this time - the problem is that the whole place down there is full of corruption, scams and mostly uncontrolled criminal activities - it starts with the outrageous fees for any kinds of transports and ends at outright scams and exploits of the ones who still travel there.

Another shooting !!

And we have read about legalising Fire arm in the country !! Wow!!

I wonder what will be next after fire arm when already everyone owns one? Legalise Grenage and Tanker next??

all of you are very nice people, wishing the guy rest in RIP,

I am since 20 years a resident of Bangkok and I have seen Bangkok burning in May 2010,

it came very close to my house, the burning stock exchange was just 200 meters away,

There has been a problem with land development in Phuket for years. Its not the same as bangkok where you have established land/zones and ancient buddha temple compounds everywhere. Phuket was just an insignificant island full of peanut farmers.

Along came the tourists and inexorably all the traditional farmers/families were booted off their beach front land and the mafia boys moved in for the big kill.

Same as Pattaya. Tourism is big money which destroys everything in Thailand.

Wouldnt be surprised if the latest newspaper man executed was related to a land scam story about to be published.

The result of mafia corruption running unchecked in Phuket. It will only get worse and worse until the Government realises the value of cleaning the place up. It needs a replacement of every official at every level especially those higher up and especially those where the posts have to be paid for - which is all of them pretty much.

Dream on .....

Until people wake up and vote with their feet and go elsewhere NOTHING will happen. They do not care and would love to see the foreigners leave...until they discover they would have to really WORK for a living. All foreign embassies should place Phuket on a travel warning to avoid.

I think if the foriegners left and tourists stopped going the place would be bankrupt and you couldn't give the hotels away.

VERY TRUE.

Unfortunately he isn't the first journalist getting murdered here. Often they are after exposing someone involved in something lucrative, such as property development.

Being a journalist can be dangerous work wherever employed. French journo yesterday in Syria and thousands more like him in the past in areas of unrest. Remember Neil Davis the Australian journo who stayed in Vietnam for over eleven years and then got killed covering a coup d etat attempt in Bangkok. Not something that I would enjoy doing.

even more political posts removed ...