Thai police experiment with methods of catching hit men


Ae Inside (left) with infamous Red Shirt general Sae Daeng. Ae was murdered in January 2002.

BANGKOK: -- Thai Police are experimenting with a new approach in their detection and arrest of hitmen.

From preparing lists of the “most wanted”, to making “criminal suspect calendars” which feature photos of wanted suspects, their approach demonstrates that police are desperate to cut down the number of hitmen who bring violent and, in many cases, shocking scenes to society.

Yet their attempts have not been fruitful.

The number of killings by hitmen remains at a disturbing level.

As a result, police are trying to find more efficient methods to deal with the problem and one among them stands out: Systematically categorising them.

The idea has been initiated by the Crime Suppression Division which believes dividing suspects into four groups and checking their relations and movements with close associates – parents, relatives, and friends – will enable investigators to know how to more effectively approach their targets.

The CSD divides the hitmen based on experience in killing, their life patterns and bio-information, deputy CSD commander Pol Col Akkaradet Phimonsri said. Under the CSD’s four categories, hitman level 1 refers to those who are professional gunmen, no matter whether they are wanted under arrest warrants or not.

Convicted hitmen who have been released from jail are included in this group.

The level 2 hitmen are newcomers.

The CSD believes this group is the most dangerous because they are not shy to take orders to kill anyone to add their “successes” to their profiles and hope to eventually be upgraded to the first group.

Suspects in level 3 are those who come under the umbrella of influential figures or mafia.

Most of them have not been the subject of arrest warrants.

The level 4 of criminal suspects are those who are not hitmen by career but have murdered people during conflicts.

Still, about 30% of the suspects in the fourth level tend to have contacts with people in the third group.

Pol Col Akkaradet said people in this category will eventually be lured by money into becoming professional hitmen.

A key to the arrest of these hitmen and their masterminds is that police need to know their background and what they will do next, Pol Col Akkaradet said.

For example, officers must block suspects in the second group from promoting themselves up to the first group.

Pol Col Akkaradet admitted suspects in the third group are most difficult to arrest because they are under the umbrella of influential figures and police often lack enough evidence to seek court warrants to search their homes.

Along with the four categories of the suspects, the CSD has also determined that it can find clues about hitmen from people associating with them, including suspects’ parents, relatives and friends.

“No one can live alone forever without contacting other people,” Pol Col Akkaradet said.

CSD deputy superintendent Kittisak Tiengkamol said the division found that the price to hire a hitman commonly begins at 50,000 baht.

But prices will depend on the position and importance of the target – and the reason for the order to kill them.

Pol Lt Col Kittisak said a hit that involves a love affair that went wrong seemed to attract the lowest price.

Assassinations for political and business reasons, however, would attract much higher fees, he said.

“Most of reasons for killing involve assets, sex, being insulted, or people just losing their temper,” he said.

The CSD has compiled two “most wanted” lists – the 2011 list has 75 suspects and the 2013 list has 100 suspects.

For the 2011 list, police have arrested 22 of those named, and two on the list have died.

As for the 2013 list, four have been arrested and two have died.


-- Phuket News 2013-07-22

Pol Col Akkaradet admitted suspects in the third group are most difficult to arrest because they are under the umbrella of influential figures and police often lack enough evidence to seek court warrants to search their homes.

This should read simply "they are under the umbrella of influential figures and police". If they truly want to make a dent, then target those that are protecting them, but we all know that will never happen.

When they say hit men are they including men in black shirts?

Wow so many hit men in this country they need to be classified into 4 levels.

Something tells me this scheme is going to be counter productive.

If Ae was murdered in 2002 then his photo with Seh Daeng must be fake.

Now we have another reason as to why the BIB are so incompetent, their bosses are too busy thinking up crap like this

From what I have heard, contract hits are done by off duty policemen.

So should be a piece of cake to find them....... :-)

Categories of hitmen?

-Baddest (professional - previously convicted of murder but since released from jail)
-Badder (will 'kill anyone' and may aspire to be the Baddest)
-Bad (newcomer to the profession)
-A Bit Bad (not really a hitman at all, just an everyday murderer)

A sweep of the local copshops might be productive. Especially in NST

What next, categorising victims on their importance to society? Oh, they do that already.

catch them all and throw them out at sea

Amazing Thailand! I remember for the last national election the police were following know hit men around to prevent violence.

hitman level 1 refers to those who are professional gunmen, no matter whether they are wanted under arrest warrants or not.

I know only 1 category.........MADMEN

If Ae was murdered in 2002 then his photo with Seh Daeng must be fake.

Not if it was taken in 2001.

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From what I have heard, contract hits are done by off duty policemen.

So should be a piece of cake to find them....... :-)

Finding them is not the problem. Everyone in law enforcement knows who they are and where they are. Otherwise, how would they know that they are protected?

So, finally catching up to the way the rest of the world does things, huh? ;-)

Wow so many hit men in this country they need to be classified into 4 levels.

Something tells me this scheme is going to be counter productive.

Must be quite an honor to be top of The Hit Men parade?

Pol Col Akkaradet admitted suspects in the third group are most difficult to arrest because they are under the umbrella of influential figures and police often lack enough evidence to seek court warrants to search their homes.

This should read simply "they are under the umbrella of influential figures and police". If they truly want to make a dent, then target those that are protecting them, but we all know that will never happen.

I like this, but I am very concerned when police reveal very complex plans as to how they are going to do something. I have been involved in a large fraud in Australia. We have put it to the police that the criminals have known police associates and invited individuals in the police to step aside from the investigation. The said they did not "like" this comment of ours.

The police have since declined to assist us with the investigation, however have 'invited' us to help them fight organised crime.

If you don't laugh you cry

If Ae was murdered in 2002 then his photo with Seh Daeng must be fake.

Nonsense. Seh Daeng was a known military thug before the redshirts and had been around for a long time before he was killed. He was linked with Chuwit Kamolvisit.

I just hope the Thai's that read this nonsense in their own forums/news or whatever, say something about the waste of time and effort...

A sweep of the local copshops might be productive. Especially in NST

NST brings a whole new meaning to OTOP.

Thailand: the hitman hub of Southeast Asia!

hit-man level 1 refers to those who are professional gunmen, no matter whether they are wanted under arrest warrants or not.

​So every member of the police or military ore on list of hit-man level 1. This includes active duty and retired.

A sweep of the local copshops might be productive. Especially in NST

NST brings a whole new meaning to OTOP. Just dial 075 HITMEN R US.

The simplest idea to cut down on hitmen is to take a policeman's gun away. Problem solved; of course there other ways they can carry out their trade.

1. This article wants to show how complex and uniquely "Thai" the issue of "Hitmen in Thailand" is. Its purpose is to preempt criticism for ineptitude.

2. Since they have all that information on hitmen to categorize and correlate different groups of hitmen, another category is blatantly missing:

Percentage of police and military personnel who have done hits.

From what I have heard, contract hits are done by off duty policemen.

So should be a piece of cake to find them....... :-)

That's kind on the lines I was thinking.

I figured just check the lunch room at the local cop shop when there is a murder done.

From what I have heard, contract hits are done by off duty policemen.

So should be a piece of cake to find them....... :-)

Finding them is not the problem. Everyone in law enforcement knows who they are and where they are. Otherwise, how would they know that they are protected?

I was at a high end social gathering in Chiang Mai. ( Not a bar on Walking Street !!! ) I met an older gentleman who was retired from working at the embassy there. He first explained how the CIA used the embassy as the base for their anti drug campaign. He then told me it was well known that contract killings were performed by Thai police, so a certain order could be held. If budget hit men were wandering the street blasting people, that would look bad...

So no, not a problem to find these hit men. :-)

They forgot the 'Facebook' level of hitmen.