Maj-Gen Vinai Thongsong, head of the police’s Crime Suppression Division, has initiated a manhunt for top hitmen.



An armor plating company in Samut Prakan, where vehicles can be customized to offer total protection from bullets.



A Bangkok shooting range, popular among people looking for extra protection. During election campaigns, sales of shooting lessons and bullet-proof vests increase.

The hit list

By Steve Sandford

17 July 2006

On hired guns, politics and the ‘killing season’

Last week, Caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra shrugged off rumors that there was a plot to assassinate him. “I have heard reports about this but I am not frightened,” he told reporters. “This is completely ordinary. There is nothing to be worried about.”

Thaksin may not be worried but gunmen are expected to be as busy as professional pollsters in the lead-up to the next election, tentatively scheduled for this October.

The body count has started already, with five suspects rounded up following the execution-style killing of Thai Rak Thai MP Kobkul Nopamornbodi on May 27.

That’s one of the reasons the Royal Thai Police have released a list of known hitmen they want stopped from affecting the outcome of the vote.

The latest clean-up follows a long history of blood-splattered campaigns often referred to as “the killing season,” with candidates hiring mui phuen, or gunmen, to rub out their competition.

Sales of bulletproof vests, armor-plated cars and shooting lessons increase while local newspapers are known to publish death counts alongside public opinion poll results.

In the latest attempt to stop a campaign killing spree ahead of election day, Maj-Gen Vinai Thongsong, who heads the police’s Crime Suppression Division, announced a manhunt for the guns-for-hire.

As head of the recently formed Centre for Suppression of Influential Figures and Gunmen, Maj-Gen Vinai has vowed to capture at least 27 of the 108 alleged gunmen on its “Most Wanted” roster by year’s end. He has a crack team of SWAT commandos on 24-hour standby.

To garner public assistance, the police set up a website – http://www.csd.go.th – displaying the most notorious and detailing their past rap sheets, known hang-outs and personal habits.

Buntree Musaka, a former army sergeant who allegedly murdered five people, including two women, in a contract killing, is at the top of the list.

Number six on the list is Jittakorn Thammetha, who might not be difficult to miss at a bar. He is known to fire his favorite M-16 and AK47 machine guns overhead when he’s drunk.

Would-be bounty hunters can download the mug shots. Rewards of 40,000 to 95,000 baht are offered for information leading to their capture. The original list contained 120 names, but 12 men have already surrendered to police, fearing extra judicial sentencing that might include a police bullet.

But human rights groups are concerned that the police may use the list to eliminate political opponents, while ignoring the sources of cash that are paying for the assassinations of political candidates.

Suspect lists and urgent deadlines are nothing new here, and that troubles the Asian Human Rights Council.

“If you say there are 100 people or so on this list – and there is certainly a much larger number than that in Thailand who could be identified as killing people in exchange for money – then by what criteria are people on this list being included and others excluded?” asks Nick Cheesman, spokesman for the Hong Kong-based human rights watchdog.

Cheesman fears that the latest government-sponsored clean-up will result in the deaths of innocent victims, much like its three-month war on “dark forces” in 2003.

Purportedly a crackdown on the nation’s drug trade, more than 4,000 suspected narcotics traffickers were killed or disappeared after Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s government distributed highly questionable black lists that contained names of alleged dealers.

International human right groups accused Thailand of using extra judicial hit squads to execute most of the targeted suspects. Innocent bystanders, including children, were also killed.

Most of the cases remain unsolved and Cheesman holds out little hope that the government will bring to justice those responsible for giving the orders. “When police are accused of extra judicial killing, even in the event that there is any kind of inquiry, it’s only going to happen at the level at which the police officers who were responsible for the killing directly are involved.” In fact, policemen and soldiers often “moonlight” as hired gunmen.

But Maj-Gen Vinai of the CSD insists that his hit list includes only serious criminals, which is why he remains adamant that the police must stop them, through arrests or otherwise.

“One of my biggest cases involved the godfather of Chon Buri,” the veteran cop recalls, referring to the self-proclaimed “half-businessman, half-gangster” Somchai Kunpleume, who rules the crime-ridden eastern seaboard province. “Gunmen took an order from Kamnan [Thai for ‘godfather’] Poh to murder a local chief of a sub-district.”

The gunmen’s subsequent confessions led to the arrest and conviction of Somchai for paying them three million baht to eliminate his business rival, Prayoon Sitichote.

Despite being handed a 25-year prison sentence, the 68-year old-business tycoon, regarded by many as one of the country’s most powerful crime figures, remains out of jail, on the run after failing to appear for his verdict earlier this year. He had posted bail of 10 million baht.

The case is a prime example of the special treatment granted to influential businessmen who use hired guns with strong connections to the country’s web of clandestine military and police officials.

Since its inception, the Royal Thai Police have been linked with the military to dispense law and order. According to the book Corruption and Democracy in Thailand by Pasuk Phongpaichit and Sungsidh Piriyarangsan, now leading professors at Chulalongkorn University, the police force was elevated during the 1950s and 60s to a point where it was called the “Fourth Army.” General Phao Sriyanon, the most notorious police director at that time, created a squad of special aides known as Aswin Waen Phet (Knights of the Diamond Ring) who acted as his personal hitmen, the book reveals.

The two security forces share a deep-rooted loyalty as servants of the Kingdom and protectors of the monarchy, but a lack of disciplinary action against “rogue” officers – which continues to the current day – has given some security officials an air of impunity and encouraged them to become assassins for their political bosses or wealthy businessmen.

Human Rights Commissioner Surasee Kosolnavin says that as the nation continues to strive to gain the materialistic goods of the western world, many are seeking the easy route to fame and fortune.

“Thailand now has changed too much now with globalization the people want to make money quickly. Money is the new religion,” the former prosecutor says.

While Maj-Gen Vinai, 49, acknowledges the profit motive in the country’s thriving murder-for-hire market, he is less concerned about the links to the bagmen.

As a young captain, Maj-Gen Vinai killed a gunman following a shootout near Bangkok.

“The gunmen do the job solely for the money. After they make the hit, they run from the police,” he says, grasping the cluster of gold Buddhist amulets draped around his neck as he retells the story of the botched arrest.

“They make the money the easy way and continue in their chosen occupation.” – Martin Petty contributed to this story.

Thai Day