The Thai suspect wanted for shooting a former Cambodian opposition MP to death in Bangkok has been arrested in Cambodia, police said on Wednesday night.
Ekalak Paenoi, 42, had fled across the border after carrying out the shooting of Lim Kimya on Tuesday evening. He was apprehended at a restaurant in Battambang province around 4.30pm on Wednesday afternoon.
Cambodian police joined by investigators from the Metropolitan Police in Bangkok took the suspect to the Battambang Provincial command centre before sending him to the Internal Security Command in Phnom Penh for further questioning.
Police sources said Cambodian authorities were expected to prosecute Mr Ekalak for illegal entry before extraditing him to Thailand.
Police said the suspect, also known as “Sergeant Em”, had served in the marine corps unit of the Royal Thai Navy and was currently working as a motorcycle taxi driver. He was found to have a criminal history and an outstanding warrant for asset-related offences.
Pol Lt Gen Sayam Boonsom, commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, said the suspect was likely to be a gun for hire and someone may have identified the target for him.
Police later released a picture of the person who was believed to the spotter who pointed out Lim Kimya for the shooter. He is reportedly a Cambodian national who travelled on the same tourist bus that Lim Kimya had taken from Siem Reap to Bangkok on Tuesday.
The Criminal Court earlier on Wednesday issued an arrest warrant for the hitman who carried out the brazen attack in a crowded area near Wat Bowonniwet Vihara in Phra Nakhon district of Bangkok.
Lim Kimya, 73, had arrived in the capital just hours earlier after taking a bus from Siem Reap in Cambodia. He was shot dead in front of his wife and brother by a waiting gunman who fired three shots.
Surrounded by a pool of blood, Lim Kimya lay on his back, clad in a blue polo shirt and white shorts, as a policeman attempted to revive him. A small blue suitcase lay nearby.
An autopsy found that the victim’s heart and liver were ruptured with two bullets fired into the right side of his back, a police source said.
The gunman fled on a motorcycle, which was later found abandoned at a petrol station in the Suan Luang area. The suspect had used the motorcycle registered in Samut Prakan for a few days but he was not its owner.
He was reportedly seen leaving the area in a green-yellow taxi. Later he boarded a pickup truck that took him to Sa Kaeo province where he crossed over into Cambodia.
A Thai police team that had arrived at the border around midnight on Tuesday had been tracking the suspect’s movements and coordinated with their Cambodian counterparts to locate and detain him.
Political reaction
Lim Kimya was a member of the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), the popular opposition that was dissolved by a court ahead of a 2018 election over an alleged treason plot. The CNRP said at the time that the charges against it were fabricated by the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) led by Hun Sen.
Cambodian government spokesperson Pen Bona said the killing was a matter for the authorities of Thailand, a sovereign state. He said the Cambodian government was often accused by opposition “extremists” of being behind incidents.
Nikorndej Balankura, spokesman for the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said: “The Thai authorities are giving the case its due attention, noting apparent public safety concerns, and will conduct a full and thorough investigation to enable appropriate prosecution in accordance with Thai law.”
The Cambodian and French embassies did not immediately respond to separate requests for comment.
“We will investigate and determine if the motives [for the killing] were personal or otherwise,” Thai government spokesperson Jirayu Houngsub said.
“We don’t want our opposition party to link this to politics because it would impact the country’s image,” he added. (Story continues below)
Blood stains the ground at the scene where a former Cambodian opposition politician Lim Kimya, 73, was shot dead, in Bangkok on Wednesday. (Photo: Reuters)
Cambodia’s government, led by the CPP for more than four decades, has conducted a ruthless, years-long crackdown on its opponents, with scores of politicians and activists jailed, many in absentia, and hundreds more fleeing into exile. It has denied persecuting the opposition.
Rights groups have accused Hun Sen — who ruled Cambodia for nearly four decades before stepping down in 2023 and handing power to his eldest son, Hun Manet — of using the legal system to crush any opposition to his rule.
“The Cambodian government has intimidated, surveilled and harassed former CNRP members — including those living in exile in neighbouring Thailand,” Bryony Lau, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a statement earlier.
Senator Angkhana Neelapaijit, who champions human rights protection, called on Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra to resolve the case swiftly. “The premier has good relations with the Cambodian government and must ensure the investigation into the murder is swift and thorough and those involved are brought to justice,” Ms Angkhana said.
Citing a UN report on forced disappearances of foreign activists in Bangkok in recent years, Ms Angkhana said the latest brazen attack makes Bangkok appear to be an unsafe place for foreign activists.
The slaying of Lim Kimya came on the same day that the still-influential Hun Sen called for a new law to label anyone who attempts to topple his son Hun Manet’s government as “terrorists”.
A gunman is seen on a motorcycle before shooting former Cambodian opposition lawmaker Lim Kimya, 73, near Wat Bowonniwet Vihara on Tuesday. The hitman's motorcycle was later found abandoned in Suan Luang district. POLICE PHOTO
The suspect’s motorcycle was found abandoned at an LPG station in the Suan Luang district of Bangkok on Wednesday. (Police photo)