KRABI: One of three men wanted for the murder of a 54-year-old man whose body was found buried in a rubber plantation has turned himself in to police and implicated a cousin in the fatal shooting.
Police investigators on Saturday took Suwit Roengsamut to the crime scene in tambon Nong Thalae of Muang district in Krabi.
Mr Suwit, 26, surrendered to Ao Nang police on Friday night after arrest warrants were issued for him and the two other men, Thai media reported.
Still at large are Suriya Roengsamut, alias “Bang Fit”, 32, and elder brother Surachai Roengsamut, 38. The three are accused of collusion in premeditated murder, illegal detention, arson, illegal possession of weapons and illegally carrying them in public.
The arrest warrants were issued after the body of Suchart Khaoluan, 54, of Lam Thap district in Krabi, was found buried in a rubber plantation about 2 kilometres from Mr Suriya’s house on Thursday evening. The body had gunshot wounds and had been soaked with acid.
The body was discovered after a burned car belonging to Suchart was found buried in an oil palm plantation near Mr Suriya’s house.
Suchart had been missing since May 3 after leaving his house to collect a 300,000-baht debt from Mr Suriya. Relatives filed a complaint with Lam Thap police after receiving an anonymous chat message saying Suchart had been killed and his body buried, along with his car, in tambon Nong Thalae.
During questioning, Mr Suwit implicated Mr Suriya, or “Bang Fit”, in the fatal shooting. Before the incident, Mr Suriya had driven a pickup truck with four men on board, including himself and the victim, to the rubber plantation at Ban Nong Baek in tambon Nong Thalae.
When they arrived at the plantation, Mr Suriya asked Suchart to get out of the vehicle before firing two shots at the victim, claimed Mr Suwit.
He said Mr Suriya and two other men then took the body away to bury. Mr Suwit admitted to having hired a backhoe for 2,000 baht to dig a hole to bury the victim’s car.
Earlier media reports had said that all three suspects — Suriya, Surachai and Suwit — were brothers. It was reported on Saturday that Suriya and Surachai were brothers while Suwit was a cousin.