More than two months after the murder of entertainment tycoon Somyos Suthangkura, police have arrested two suspects, who have publicly confessed to the crime.
The first suspect, Phanuphong Rasana, 32, was presented at a press conference by police chief Somyot Poompunmuang at the Royal Thai Police headquarters on Thursday morning.
Pol Gen Somyot said Mr Panuphong confessed he was the gunman who shot Somyos dead in the car park of the Heng Shark Fin restaurant in Suan Luang district on June 29. The suspect said he received 30,000 baht before and 270,000 baht after the killing.
He said he did not personally know Somyos, also a former Democrat party MP, or why he was hired to kill him. He said he accepted the job when asked by a person for whom he had a deep gratitude.
Before the murder, the confessed gunman said, he was taken to see the place once and given a gun.
On June 29, he was taken on a motorcycle to the restaurant by a man called Noo, who also pointed out the target to him. He said he threw the gun used to kill Somyos into the Chao Phraya River afterward.
Mr Phanuphong was arrested on Soi Charan Sanitwong 35 about 5pm on Monday.
Information gained from him led to the arrest of another suspect, Chom Chainarong, alias Ajarn, in Phetchaburi province. (Continued below)
Chom Chainarong (checked shirt), admits to hiring Phanuphong Rasana to kill Somyos Suthangkura.
Mr Chom was also taken to the RTP headquarters to appear before another press conference on Thursday by Pol Maj Gen Akradej Pimolsri, commander of the Crime Suppression Division.
According to the CSD chief, Mr Chom confessed he was assigned to find a gunman to kill Somyos.
Mr Chom said he was given one million baht for the job. He kept 100,000 baht for himself and gave the gunman, Mr Phanuphong, 300,000 baht. He did not say where the rest of the money went.
Pol Maj Gen Akradej said that according to information from Mr Chom, the murder motive could have been a treacherous act involving a large sum of money to be used to bribe authorities to drop a drug case.