Hired gunman who killed Thai monk held

[webfact]

Hired gunman who killed monk held
THE NATION


Panja Chareesaen , the alleged gunman involved in the murder of revered monk Phra Bundit Supanditto, is escorted from an aircraft after a flight from Kalasin province where he was arrested, to a press conference at the police headquarters in central Bangk

BANGKOK: -- POLICE have arrested a janitor who allegedly was hired to kill the revered monk from Udon Thani who was found shot dead this month. They also named a junior policeman as an accomplice on the run.

Police told a press conference yesterday that a man wanted Phra Bundit Supanditto murdered because one of his wives had left him to practise dharma at Pa Tor Seesiad Temple, where the victim was the abbot.

Panja Chareesaen, 49, was arrested on Tuesday evening in Kalasin and flown to Bangkok for the press conference.

He admitted to the media to shooting the monk for Bt50,000 and named Pol Snr Sgt-Major Charnchai Soisangwan as the driver who took him to gun down the victim.

Panja also implicated a person as the mastermind, who has been identified by police as Bor.

Royal Thai Police chief Pol General Somyot Poompanmuang said later that Panja was told by Charnchai that the victim was a rogue monk who was having an illicit affair with the unnamed woman.

Somyot said the evidence was now sufficient to secure an arrest warrant for the mastermind in a few days, but police were now unable to say whether there were other accomplices.

He said Charnchai was a driver for Pol Maj-General Bunlue Kongbangyang, an area police special operations commander who has been transferred away, but said both Bunlue and Pol Maj-General Chanyat Saithin, Udon Thani police chief, should not be viewed as co-suspects.

Police made the arrest of Panja after Bunlue and Chanyat were transferred in the morning.

Charnchai has been dismissed from the force and is possibly hiding in Laos, Somyot said, before vowing to pursue him to find more possible accomplices.

Assistant national police chief Pol Lt-General Panya Mamen said Bor had misunderstood Phra Bundit's relationship with the woman.

He acknowledged interviewing Bor as a witness but said he would not be treated as a suspect until further evidence against him was available to police.

Police are working on two hypotheses - Bor directly contacted and hired Charnchai or through other people as mediators, Panya said.

Charnchai was close to Panja, who also works as a mechanic with knowledge about metal work, he said.

Police said at the press conference that the murder weapon was modified by Panja - a shotgun capable of firing M16 rounds.

In a police-supervised re-enactment of his crimes at the scene near the temple in Muang district, Panja put his shotgun on the roof of the passenger cab of a pickup truck driven by Charnchai, aimed and opened fire at Phra Bundit - one shot while he was walking and one at his body after he fell down.

Before the re-enactment, Panja apologised to the father of the victim, Luang Pu Suk, also a monk. "I was wrong," reporters heard.

The father accepted Panja's apology.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Hired-gunman-who-killed-monk-held-30256769.html


-- The Nation 2015-03-26

[clockman]

Only in Thailand, police, monks, hired guns. All dirty!

[Robby nz]

Police told a press conference yesterday that a man wanted Phra Bundit Supanditto murdered because one of his wives had left him to practise dharma at Pa Tor Seesiad Temple, where the victim was the abbot.

One of his wives ?

How many does he have ?

[Somtamnication]

So the next picture will be of this guy pointing at a gun, a dead monk or money?

[webfact]

UPDATE:

Gunman suspect nabbed for killing monk in UdonThani

Bangkok: – The gunman suspect has been arrested and charged for involving in the contract killing of a senior monk in Udon Thani, national police chief General Somyos Pumpanmuang said.

Following his arrest in Kalasin, suspect Panja Chareesaen admitted to killing Phra Bandit Supanthito, the abbot of Wat Pa To Si Siad, Mueang Udon Thani on March 1.

Full story: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/811965-gunman-suspect-nabbed-for-killing-monk-in-udonthani/

[issanaus]

Only in Thailand, police, monks, hired guns. All dirty!

Only on TV are such generalisations presented as facts.

Sure there are plenty of dirty police in Thailand but there are dirty police in every police force. However there are also some good police as shown by the change in the conduct of this investigation. The good news is that with the increased vacancies that are occurring in the BIB some of the better police are having the opportunity to come through the ranks.

Monks - good , bad and indifferent as is the case in all religions. Unfortunately the victim in this case was one of the better monks. Lets just hope that the PM and NRC continue to take actions to weed out the bad monks.

Hired guns - hard to argue with. The incremental improvements in the police combined with a hope for restructure of the laws and operations of the courts MAY see more of them where they belong.

It is nice to see some apparent progress in this case!

Edited March 26, 2015 by issanaus

[Suffinator]

POLICE have arrested a janitor who allegedly was hired to kill the revered monk from Udon Thani who was found shot dead this month. They also named a junior policeman as an accomplice on the run.

The shocking part here is that the guy was just a janitor. Yes it should be a shocking fact that his accomplice was a police officer but as we are all aware the RTP are often found to be involved in criminal activities; it almost feels like the entire RTP is nothing more than a organized criminal gang where those who do get caught are merely transferred to another division of the criminal organisation.

If Prayut is serious about cleaning up Thailand the RTP would and should be the first place to start.

I wonder if there is any part of Thai society that isn't corrupt and murderous to the core ... seriously being born a Thai has to be a distinct disadvantage and if I was in that predicament I'd never admit it.

[ChrisY1]

Why would experienced police officers hire a lowly janitor to take out a high order Monk?

[Docno]

Why would experienced police officers hire a lowly janitor to take out a high order Monk?

Maybe they needed a patsy and it didn't quite work out as planned....

[gandalf12]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

Only in Thailand, police, monks, hired guns. All dirty!

Or America

[louse1953]

As per usual,warn the mastermind days before arresting him.

[dickyknee]

"Panja also implicated a person as the mastermind, who has been identified by police as Bor."

Media - can you tell us his name

Police - bor

Media - police identified him as bor

[PatOngo]

Why would experienced police officers hire a lowly janitor to take out a high order Monk?

They're cheaper