Ex-Wiang Kaen official calls on police to expedite probe into killing of wife and daughter
Thaweesak Yodmaneebanphot – the former kamnan and Hmong leader in Chiang Rai's Wiang Kaen district who along with his immediate family members was caught in a hail of gunfire on April 24 – has petitioned to national police chief Pol General Chakthip Chaijinda to speed up the investigation.
Thaweesak's 40-year-old wife Maiyia Wongnaphapaisarn and their five-year-old daughter Chayaporn were killed in the attack, while Thaweesak and their three-year-old son Chaimongkol, were seriously injured.
Submitting the petition via deputy administrative superintendent Pol Lt Colonel Somchai Nimnoi at the Royal Thai Police head office in Bangkok, Thaweesak said it had been six months since the ambush but no police investigator had summoned him for official questioning.
He said that testimony of the assistant village headman, who was a key witness, had leaked to the suspects' group, resulting in threats to the witness, and he was also living in fear and wouldn't go back to Tambon Por.
Thaweesak said police had summoned two out of the four suspects. Arrest warrants were issued but it was unclear if the pair had been charged and for what offence.
Thaweesak said that there were at least 10 Thai suspects who were local residents in the case – whose names he also submitted with the petition – and that none were police or military officers.
Thaweesak said he believed the attack stemmed from the confiscation by police of 9.4 million speed pills and 700 kilograms of "ice" in Wiang Kaen in April. He said the drug gang was convinced that Thaweesak might have been an informant so they launched an attack on him and his family as revenge.