Top cop expects arrests in three murder cases ‘soon’

PHUKET CITY: The Royal Thai Police Region 8 Commander has ordered Phuket Provincial Police and three local police stations to expedite their investigations into three high-profile murders that have taken place on the island in just the past ten days – two involving foreigners.

After meeting with the heads of the Kathu, Phuket City and Tung Tong Police Districts where the murders were carried out, Pol Lt Gen Santarn Chayanon said he was told there had been a great deal of progress in all three investigations and that he expects arrests “soon” in the cases.

The first was the murder of Francis Alex Degioanni, the 34-year-old Canadian man shot and killed on his birthday by two men outside his office in Patong on February 19.

On February 23, Englishman Ian Kenneth Stuart, 61, was clubbed to death as he slept on the third floor of an office shophouse building at the Tesco Lotus junction.

Both Mr Stuart and Mr Degioanni were involved in the real estate business.

In the latest murder, on Saturday night, the Thai owner of a car care business was shot and killed by an assailant on a motorcycle as he was leaving a store on Sakdidet Road, where the victim had stopped to drink beer.

The victim, 33-year-old Kiatisak Rakchue, was found dead in his Toyota Fortuner with three 9mm-bullet wounds when the police arrived.

— MCOT