Probe into Krabi family murder makes progress
Gunmen’s car seen on road to Surat Thani
Investigators from the Royal Thai Police are exploring all possible motives that could have led to the grisly executionstyle murder of eight members of a family in Krabi’s Ao Luk district on Monday and insist the probe has made headway.
Deputy police chief Pol Gen Chalermkiat Sriworakhan, who arrived in Krabi yesterday to follow up on the investigation, said investigators had made significant progress in their probe to resolve the murder case.
However, he said, all possible motives for the murder listed in the beginning of the investigation were being treated as important and followed up.
These motives include a case of public land encroachment, a conflict related to a terminated stone mill construction project, an alleged extra-marital affair and a possible feud with an illicit drugs gang.
National police chief Chakthip Chaijinda, who has also visited Krabi and has met investigators, said police were looking after the massacre survivors and would not rush to question them, allowing them time for mental rehabilitation.
A source close to the investigation team, meanwhile, said police have obtained new information about the black Toyota Fortuner driven to the house of the victims on Monday by the suspects and the grey Toyota Yaris stolen from the house before they left.
They were both reportedly seen on Southern Seaboard Road in Plai Phraya district of Krabi, heading in the direction of Surat Thani province.
Surveillance efforts have now been expanded to include petrol stations and convenience stores on Phetkasem Road from Ranong to Trang and the Asian Highway from Chumphon to Phatthalung.
The investigators also detected signals from a mobile phone owned by Worayut Sanglang, 46, a village headman and the head of the murdered family, who was also killed in the attack, in an area between Krabi and neighbouring Surat Thani, said the source.
The mobile phone was taken away from Worayut by the suspected murderers, said the source.
A police investigation team was deployed to scour the area from where the mobile phone signals were detected. Police also suspect that the stolen Yaris was possibly abandoned in the same area.
A check to find out if the suspects had made any phone calls while they were at the crime scene for several hours led to no clues, making it further difficult for the investigators to track the suspects, who removed all traces of themselves before fleeing, said the source.
In the conflict over the stone mill project, a company called Ao Luk Sila Thong Co, was set up to take over the stone mill construction project from Trang Phuthong Mill Limited Partnership, which was granted a 10-year concession in 2012 but faced opposition from villagers over the project, said the source.
In 2015, Worayut was assigned to represent Ao Luk Sila Thong Co in contacting concerned state organisations and apply for a new concession for the same stone mill project.
The police investigators are trying to find out if Worayut had received tea money from the financiers of the project in exchange for appeasing the protesting villagers.