RTA sergeant questioned over double murder at Nakhon Phanom petrol station

A Royal Thai Army (RTA) sergeant is now under intense interrogation in connection with the chilling double murder of two petrol station workers last month.

Police Major General Thawatchai Thungpao, Nakhon Phanom police chief, led the operation yesterday afternoon, January 17, alongside crack investigators from Nakhon Phanom’s Muang station and Provincial Police Region 4.

The suspect, still awaiting identification, is suspected of being the sinister force behind the fatal shootings that shook the Thai Laemthong petrol station in Mueang district on December 29 last year. The victims, Phomchak Seesupha, a 33 year old Lao national, and Wichuda Srisuming, a 50 year old Thai female employee, lost their lives within the confines of the petrol station compound.

As the investigation unfolds, the suspect, currently attached to the 3rd Infantry Battalion, is tight-lipped, vehemently denying any involvement in the gruesome incident. A discovery ensued as investigators confiscated a war weapon, believed to be an AK rifle, from the suspect’s residence. The same rifle is suspected to be the instrument of death that claimed the lives of innocent victims.

However, the soldier remains steadfast in his denial, according to an undisclosed source. The investigative team, leaving no stone unturned, is rigorously conducting forensic tests on the evidence seized from the suspect, coupled with other pertinent items, reported Bangkok Post.

The motive continues to be explored, with potential angles including personal vendettas and business conflicts within the petrol station premises.

In related news, Deputy Commissioner of the Royal Thai Police (RTP), Surachate “Big Joke” Hakparn, stepped in to oversee the inquiry into the murder of a Thai woman, Buaphan Thansu. This intervention followed accusations against officers from Aranyaprathet Police Station in the Isaan province of Sa Kaeo that they were alleged to have coerced the woman’s husband into confessing to the crime.

In other news, police arrested a Thai man, his mother and his girlfriend for the murder of a Bolt driver in Pattaya. One of the suspects claimed he stabbed the victim to death because he could not pay the taxi fare.