Friday, 30 January 2009

Thai police arrest alleged mastermind in shooting of US citizen

The Nation
Thu, January 29, 2009

By Deutsche Presse Agentur

Bangkok - Thai immigration police on Thursday arrested the alleged mastermind of a murder attempt on an US citizen, a case the prime minister last week ordered the police to prioritize.

Janpen Oxley, 48, the Thai wife of British national Darren Oxley, was arrested at 7 am Thursday at Aranyaprathet on the Thai-Cambodian border.

"Janpen asked for an entry stamp to Cambodia but when her name popped up on the computer there was an alert that an arrest warrant had been issued for her," Immigration Police Lieutenant Colonel Benjapol Lortsawat said in a telephone interview from Aranyaprathet, 200 kilometres east of Bangkok.

"She had been waiting at the border checkpoint since 4 am," said Benjapol. "Janpen told immigration officials she wanted to get in to Poipet to help a friend who had lost her money at the casinos." Poipet, Cambodia, is a popular gambling destination for Thais.

Janpen is the alleged mastermind behind the attempted murder of Donald Whiting in Hua Hin, a beach resort 130 kilometres south-west of Bangkok, on October 24.

Thai police on Tuesday arrested three suspected gunmen in the shooting of Whiting, 65, who was embroiled in two property disputes in Hua Hin, an upmarket beach resort that has become popular among foreign retirees.

The three suspects confessed to having been hired by Janpen to kill Whiting for 200,000 baht (5,714 dollars).

Police have also issued an arrest warrant for Oxley, a British national who has invested in several housing developments in Hua Hin.

Whiting had bought a house from Oxley but complained he had been overcharged for water supplies.

Whiting, an ex-marine who has been living in Hua Hin for the past five years, was involved in a second property dispute with another foreign developer who had been contracted to build a 13.6-million-baht villa in the resort for him and his wife Dolly Samson.

The US couple claim that the contractor took their money and left them with an unfinished, sub-standard concrete monstrosity instead of the Thai-Bali style mansion they had dreamed of.

Whiting was a frequent contributor to websites dedicated to complaints about property scams at Hua Hin.

Whiting's car was set on fire in July 2008, and shortly afterwards he was shot in the neck, leaving him partially paralysed. He was shot a day before a court hearing in which he was scheduled to open a lawsuit against Janpen and her husband.

Property scams have been widely reported in Hua Hin, known as the "royal resort," a favourite summer retreat for Thai high society. More recently it has drawn a plethora of world-class hotel chains and posh boutique getaways.

The Whiting case was one of four unsolved crimes that newly appointed Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva last week ordered the national police chief to solve.

The other cases include the slaying of four Saudi nationals in 1989 and 1990, the disappearance and suspected murder of human rights lawyer Somchai Neelpaijit in 2004 and the 2003 slaying of Kornthep Viriya, a shipping agent and key witness in a tax evasion case against a company owned by former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

No comments: