Gunman kills motorbike taxi driver

TUNG TONG: Somyot Saekoey, 36, a motorbike taxi driver based in Patong, was shot dead late on Tuesday after visiting a friend. Pol Capt Kittipong Klaykaew of Tungtong Police Station said that K. Somyot went to visit his friend, Jamroen Soonthon, near the entrance to the Bang Wat Dam near Kathu, at around 10.30 pm. They chatted about their work and then, as K. Somyot was walking back to his motorbike to go home, a gunman rode past on a motorbike and shot him four times with an 11 mm pistol. Two bullets hit him in the back, one in the chest and one in the neck, killing him instantly. K. Jamroen told the police that he was not sure how many people were on the motorbike as they were moving fast and it was very dark in the area around his house. “I’m not sure why he was shot,” Capt Kittipong said, though he added that he had heard K. Somyot had problems with a drug dealer and with a lover (he was married), and that he owed money to a number of people. He was also a political campaigner in the recent national elections. “We are still collecting evidence and expect to find the killer soon,” Capt Kittipong said. Yesterday, the body was taken to K. Somyot’s birthplace in Krabi for cremation.