The Deputy Commander of Police Region 8, Pol Maj Gen Pisan Kuldilok, said today (January 13) that police will need time to find the shooter, who they hope can be persuaded to give them the name of the person who hired him.
Evidence is being collected in the hope that the gunman, who is believed to be a professional killer, can be identified.
CCTV footage from an office near the scene of the murder on Thepkrasattree Rd (see earlier story here) has been collected and s hows the murder taking place, but is not clear enough to identify the gunman.
A sketch of the gunman compiled from witness descriptions is also being drawn, though police noted he was wearing a helmet, which makes identification more difficult.
Witnesses also told police the license plate number of the motorbike the gunman and his driver used. However, when police checked with the Provincial Transport Office they found that the number had never been issued for a motorbike.
“But we’re not up a blind alley,” said Gen Pisan. “Finding the gunman is not beyond our abilities.”
He said that said several issues might have motivated Mr Wisut's murder, because the reporter had written about many controversial issues in a way that would not have pleased some groups of influential people.
Top of the list of possible issues are:
- A “flying SorKor 1” on land near Nakalay beach in Kamala. Mr Wisut wrote that influential people had conspired with officials from the land office to create land documents for a 15-rai plaot of land, using a SorKor 1 paper from another piece of land. The land in question is valued at B200 million.
- A dispute over 65 rai of land next to the Freedom Beach, value as high as B2.8 billion. Mr Wisut is reportedly provided information to the media and the authorities about the allegedly corrupted process used to issue the title deed.
- Conflict over local politics. Mr Wisut was secretary of the Red Shirt group in Phuket. He planned to run for election to the Rassada Municipality Council.
The last issue of Mr Wisut’s magazine, Inside Phuket, which came out on December 15 last year, contained the flying SorKor 1 story, along with a story about near Nakalay beach.
There was also another story about dark deeds within the bureaucracy, and Gen Pisan said this issue, too, might motivate the murder.
Mr Wisut’s articles related to land issues have been praised by others in the local media, who saw him as a local activist trying to protect Phuket’s natural resources and public land.
“We can’t rule out any issue that might have motivated the murder,” said Maj Gen Pisan. Every time he wrote something that caused someone's “benefits” to be affected, it might have sparked anger.”
Because the case concerns intimidation of the media, Police Region 8 have set up five teams to accelerate the investigation.