Politician survives assassination bid

PHUKET TOWN: Local politician Supachai Rakmit was fighting for his life in Wachira Phuket Hospital today after two hitmen dressed in black gunned him down in broad daylight at the weekend. Police believe the execution attempt may have been over a drugs case last year or some other business dealings. The shooting followed three other recent similar attacks in Phuket that each resulted in the deaths of their targets. Witnesses saw the would-be killers strike in the car park of Phuket Town’s Thavorn Grand Plaza Hotel, in Chanajaroen Rd, and then flee by motorcycle. Their target, a member of the Koh Keaw Tambon Administration Organization, took three bullets and was rushed to Wachira Hospital where he remains in intensive care. A security guard at the hotel told the Gazette that he saw two men in black, wearing sunglasses, pull up on a motorbike close to the driver’s side of K. Supachai’s Isuzu Rodeo truck. The gunman, on the back of the motorbike, fired a total of five shots, three of which hit K. Supachai in the face, neck and leg. The guard, who declined to be named, said, “One bullet went in through his right cheek and out through his left cheek, another went through his neck from the front to the back, and the third went through his left leg.” Pol Capt Sarit Butnongsaen, of Phuket Town Police Station, said, “K. Supachai was involved with a case last year over drugs, and this may have been another attempt to wipe out people who know about the drugs networks in Phuket.” K. Supachai, once on the commitee of OrBorTor Koh Kaew but now just a regular member, was last year arrested twice for drugs possession and once for possession of a firearm without a proper license. His wife was in the cab of the truck but escaped unhurt. Police are continuing their hunt for the two men.