Thai Police Suicide Linked to Karen Killing

News - Regional Written by SAW YAN NAING/The Irrawaddy Thursday, 04 February 2010 19:42

Pol Sen Sgt Maj Somchai Pinkaew, a police officer at Phop Phra district police station who admitted to being involved in the killing of nine Karen job-seekers, committed suicide on Jan. 30 ...

Pol Sen Sgt Maj Somchai Pinkaew, a police officer at Phop Phra district police station who admitted to being involved in the killing of nine Karen job-seekers, committed suicide on Jan. 30, a police official said at a press conference in Tak Province on Wednesday.

The nine Karen job seekers were shot to death last week by a group of gunmen in Phop Phra District in Thailand's Tak Province.

A village headman in Phop Phra told The Irrawaddy that the policeman hanged himself to escape action against him after he was linked to the killing of Karen migrant job-seekers.

“We heard that he was involved in the killing,” he said.

Police have issued arrest warrants for another five people who are suspected of involvement in the killing, according to the Bangkok Post.

Provincial Police Bureau 6 chief Surasi Sunthornsarathoon told the Bangkok Post on Thursday that the officer had admitted to killing the Burmese workers while in the company of five hilltribe men. The five hilltribe men were former Haw Chinese soldiers and an ethnic Lisu named Sai, Yozu, Laota, Epu, Zotu and Fofang, the report said.

Pingkaew and his five accomplices had allegedly tried to extort money from the illegal migrant workers, who ran away when they saw the group approaching, Sunthornsarathoon said.

One local source in Phop Phra told The Irrawaddy that the gunmen demanded 1,000 baht (US $33) from each member of the group, but they killed nine of the migrants when they had difficulty raising the money.

Original source: http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=17741