Monday 23 April 2012

Suspected serial killer Nirut Sonkhamhan hanged himself in prison on Wednesday morning

Suspected serial killer Nirut Sonkhamhan hanged himself in prison on Wednesday morning, but the events leading to his suicide were set in motion last month, when the Mirror Foundation noticed an odd pattern of disappearances in the South.

RIGHT Convenience store surveillance camera footage shows Nirut Sonkhamhanwalking in tobuycoffee,which police believed he would mix with insecticide and give to his victims.

 LEFT Patanapong Sriphinphro, head of the CSD’sSubdivision 5,wholed the investigation.

The organisation, dedicated to finding missing persons, noticed that several pickup truck drivers had vanished under ominously similar circumstances.

The drivers all offered rental services. They all went missing between Prachuap Khiri Khan and Chumphon. And all were hired to go to the same destination.

This information was shared with investigators at the Crime Suppression Division (CSD), who immediately suspected the cases were not only linked, but could lead to a trail of murder.

As the investigators dug deeper, they began to unearth convincing evidence that the missing drivers had been killed by one man.

The first piece of the puzzle was a police report recording the murder of Julsil Salangsing, a driver in Chumphon's Tha Sae district, in early March.

His face was disfigured after being beaten with a rock, but the cause of death was determined to be poisoning with insecticide.

Two more truck drivers, Wachara Suebchuea and Robkwaen Klapsoon, were also missing in the same province.

All three had been hired to go to the same destination in Chumphon. Investigators were certain of a link.

On March 17, Chumphon police informed the CSD of the discovery of another body, thought to be a victim of the same killer.

Jamnong Srirachart, a pickup truck driver for hire, had died from insecticide poisoning as well. The CSD realised this was the fourth victim of a serial killer.

The CSD expanded its investigation to cover other southern provinces. Sure enough, they received reports from police in Cha-am district of Phetchaburi province of two pickup truck drivers who had been poisoned recently.

But Phaithoon Pattalapho and Montree Kalam had survived. The two told police they had cheated death in January and March respectively, at the hands of a man who had asked them to transport something to Chumphon.

Their testimony provided the evidence investigators had been looking for to pinpoint the murderer, and a warrant was issued for the arrest of Nirut, 43, a native of Songkhla province.

The CSD were confident they had identified their man, who was also the subject of an arrest warrant over the death of a 67-year-old woman in Kalasin.

The woman's body was dumped in a river and some of her valuables stolen by her killer, police said.

On April 9 another corpse was discovered _ yet another pickup truck driver.

Somsak Srijampa was found dead in Prachuap Khiri Khan, his manner of death leading the CSD to believe he too had been killed by Nirut.

The CSD believe Nirut stole his victims' trucks and sold them to a gang in Hat Yai district of Songkhla.

After finishing his business he would fly from Hat Yai to hide in Bangkok for a while, before hunting for a new victim.

In his most recent trip, surveillance cameras footage showed Nirut taking a pink taxi from the airport.

The licence plate of the vehicle was captured clearly on the airport's cameras, making it easy to track down the taxi driver.

The driver vividly remembered the passenger he dropped off at a Big C department store in Nakhon Pathom.

Last Monday, a witness helped police locate Nirut, who was staying in a rented apartment. Police captured him at the property that afternoon, confiscating a bottle of powdered insecticide, 17,600 baht in cash, and the clothes he wore on the day he supposedly killed his latest victim.

Police said Nirut claimed he spent most of the money he made from selling the stolen trucks on gambling.

"I think he was the serial killer... he confessed to killing all of them. Two people are still missing because he could not remember exactly where he dumped their bodies at night," said Patanapong Sriphinphro, head of the CSD's Subdivision 5 and leader of the investigation.

Nirut tried to kill himself in custody on the day of his arrest, and was successful in his second attempt, hanging himself with his shirt while detained in Prachuap Khiri Khan on Wednesday.

Police crackdown on illicit drugs at Na Khon Si Thammarat prison

The police confiscated more than 1,700 methamphetamine pills and almost 300 mobile phones in a pre-dawn raid at Na Khon Si Thammarat prison. The deputy director–general of the Corrections Department, Sophon Thitithammarak, and Nakhon Si Thammrat Governor Wirote Jiwarangsan told a news conference on Sunday that the early morning raid by 650 commandos and police officers at the prison found 280 mobile phones and tablets, 1,700 pills of methamphetamine and 50 grammes of crystal methamphetamine, also known as ice, in the prison. Ten sets of drug paraphernalia, gambling equipment, knives and 47,000 baht in cash were also seized. Mr Sophon said he would propose Sunday’s operation to suppress illegal drugs and forbidden items in Nakhon Si Thammarat as a model for other prisons nationwide. Meanwhile, Narong Yongnarongdejkul, head of Na Khon Si Thammarat prison, was transferred to an inactive post. Pol Maj Gen Ronnapong Saikaew, commander of the provincial police station said about 10 officials are allegedly involved in the case and police are gathering evidence to seek arrest warrants for them, along with two inmates who were allegedly major drug traders at the prison.

Police crackdown on illicit drugs at Na Khon Si Thammarat prison

The police confiscated more than 1,700 methamphetamine pills and almost 300 mobile phones in a pre-dawn raid at Na Khon Si Thammarat prison. The deputy director–general of the Corrections Department, Sophon Thitithammarak, and Nakhon Si Thammrat Governor Wirote Jiwarangsan told a news conference on Sunday that the early morning raid by 650 commandos and police officers at the prison found 280 mobile phones and tablets, 1,700 pills of methamphetamine and 50 grammes of crystal methamphetamine, also known as ice, in the prison. Ten sets of drug paraphernalia, gambling equipment, knives and 47,000 baht in cash were also seized. Mr Sophon said he would propose Sunday’s operation to suppress illegal drugs and forbidden items in Nakhon Si Thammarat as a model for other prisons nationwide. Meanwhile, Narong Yongnarongdejkul, head of Na Khon Si Thammarat prison, was transferred to an inactive post. Pol Maj Gen Ronnapong Saikaew, commander of the provincial police station said about 10 officials are allegedly involved in the case and police are gathering evidence to seek arrest warrants for them, along with two inmates who were allegedly major drug traders at the prison.

Pattaya Drug Dealing Brit-Cum English Teacher Caught

Pol. Capt. Suphan Jaiharn, Deputy Inspector said that he knew that Mr. Steven Palmer was an English teacher at Singsamut school and was selling ya-ice to customers in Pattaya. Mr. Steven Palmer confessed that he teaches English at famous school but during school holidays he didn’t teach and stayed in a house that he had bought in Pattaya. He bought the ya-ice from a friend in Bangkok, at first he bought only for personal use but later he ran out of money so he had to sell the house and move to a rental room and Mr.Steven started selling ya-ice to beer-bar prostitutes and tourists in Pattaya. Mr.Steven is charged with sales and consumption of crystal methamphetamine. He has been detained at Pattaya police station and will to be prosecuted according to the Thai law.

Tuesday 17 April 2012

Monday 16 April 2012

British terror supergrass sentence cut by two years


jailed British terrorist has had his sentence cut by two years in a supergrass deal after giving evidence about an al Qaeda-linked “martyrdom” plot in New York, it was revealed today. Former teacher Saajid Badat was jailed for 13 years in 2005 for plotting with shoe bomber Richard Reid to blow up a transatlantic airliner in 2001 in what an Old Bailey judge said was a “wicked and inhuman” plot. He has now had his term reduced by two years under the first “supergrass” deal involving a terror convict, after providing intelligence to US prosecutors investigating an alleged plot to blow up the New York subway on the eighth anniversary of the 9/11 attack. Details of the deal — kept secret for more than two years — were revealed today by the Crown Prosecution Service as a trial of the alleged al Qaeda plotters began in New York. Defendant Adis Medanjanin, a 27-year-old Bosnian-born US citizen, is charged with conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction, conspiring to commit murder in a foreign country, and providing “material support” to al Qaeda. He is said to have had terrorist training in Pakistan in 2008 and then returned to begin a plot to use beauty parlour chemicals to blow up the subway. Badat, from Gloucester, joined Reid’s shoe bomb conspiracy but pulled out at the last minute.

Sunday 15 April 2012

Western embassies targeted in Afghanistan attacks

 

Gunmen have launched multiple attacks across the Afghan capital Kabul. Western embassies in the heavily-guarded, central diplomatic area are understood to be among the targets as well as the parliament building in the west. There are reports that up to seven different locations have been hit. The Taliban has admitted responsibility, saying their main targets were the British and German embassies. There is no word at this stage on any casualties.

Taliban free hundreds from Pakistan prison

Hundreds of prisoners are believed to have escaped from a jail in northwest Pakistan after it was attacked by anti-government fighters armed with guns and rocket-propelled grenades. Some of those who escaped from the facility in the town of Bannu, in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, early on Sunday morning were "militants", an intelligence official told the Reuters news agency. "Dozens of militants attacked Bannu's Central Jail in the early hours of the morning, and more 300 prisoners have escaped," Mir Sahib Jan, the official, said. In Depth   Profile: Pakistani Taliban "There was intense gunfire, and rocket-propelled grenades were also used." Many of those who escaped following the raid were convicted Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) fighters, Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder reported from Lahore. A prison official in Bannu confirmed that "384 prisoners have escaped". A police official identified one of the inmates who escaped as a "dangerous prisoner", who took part in one of the attempts to kill the former president, Pervez Musharraf. The TTP, an umbrella organisation for anti-government groups that are loosely allied with the Taliban in Afghanistan and al-Qaeda, took responsibility for the attack. A spokesman for Hakeemullah Mehsud, TTP's leader, confirmed to Al Jazeera that the group was responsible for the attack. Another Taliban spokesman told Reuters: "We have freed hundreds of our comrades in Bannu in this attack. Several of our people have reached their destinations, others are on their way.".   Our correspondent said the attack took place in the early morning and had resulted in an exchange of fire that had left several people wounded. "After the attack the paramilitary and regular military forces came to that location and tried to surround the area," he said. "They have arrested up to a dozen men, but most of the people have indeed escaped." The injured were rushed to a local hospital in Bannu. Sources told Al Jazeera that as many as 150 fighters were involved in the attack. After blowing up the gates of the main prison at around 1:30am local time (20:30 GMT on Saturday), they entered the compound and freed the inmates, the sources said. The attackers had arranged for the transportation of the inmates from the facility. A police official told Reuters that Bannu's Central Jail held 944 prisoners in total, and that six cell blocks had been targeted in the attack.

Wednesday 11 April 2012

Bo Xilai's political death knell has sounded across China as newspaper front pages and hourly news bulletins trumpeted his disgrace and his wife's detention for the suspected murder of the Briton Neil Heywood.

Bo Xilai and Gu Kailai
Bo Xilai, right, with his wife, Gu Kailai, who is suspected of killing Neil Heywood. Photograph: AP

 

The scandal that toppled the high-profile former leadership contender is the biggest political upheaval in China since the general secretary Zhao Ziyang was ousted following the Tiananmen democracy protests in 1989. It comes months before a once-a-decade leadership transition.

The official party newspaper, People's Daily, urged people to rally around the top leadership, saying Bo had damaged the cause and image of both party and state. But while investigations into the couple are ongoing, news coverage also sought to draw a line under events, with a Global Times article saying the country had "steadily overcome a bump" ahead of the 18th party congress this autumn, which will unveil the new leadership.

The news agency Xinhua has said Bo is under investigation by central party officials for "serious disciplinary violations" – a statement that has often been followed by criminal corruption charges against leaders in the past.

Bo was dismissed as party secretary of the south-western city of Chongqing – where Heywood died last November – several weeks ago, but had held on to his politburo and central committee seats, apparently because leaders had not agreed on how to handle him. Many believe that was related to horse-trading before the autumn power transition as well as Bo's powerful connections as the "princeling" son of a renowned Communist party veteran.

The scandal was set in motion in February when Bo's ally and former police chief Wang Lijun fled to the US embassy in Chengdu, where he is believed to have told diplomats he had angered Bo by confronting him with suspicions over Heywood's death. Wang is now under investigation.

But many believe rivals and opponents were already seeking to damage Bo.

Jean-Pierre Cabestan of Hong Kong University suggested Wang's flight, while deeply embarrassing to Chinese leaders, was merely "the last straw on the camel's back". Analysts say Bo alienated senior party figures by attempting to leverage popular support to win promotion in the leadership transition.

"He created a coalition of everyone wanting to get rid of him because he became a 'troublemaker' and a factor of division," said Cabestan.

He suggested it was also "a clear victory for reformists" at the top of the party who are pressing for change.

"Behind this case is a power struggle," said Zhang Ming, a liberal scholar at Renmin University in Beijing.

"Bo broke the rules and greatly deviated from the [usual] track … This shows that the struggle has intensified."

Wu Qiang, a political scientist at Tsinghua University, said Bo's populism had been a threat: "This is a cleaning-up among princelings," he added.

Xinhua has said Bo's 51-year-old wife, Gu Kailai, and a worker from the couple's home are "highly suspected" of killing Heywood. It added that Gu and the couple's son Bo Guagua had been on good terms with the 41-year-old British businessman but that there had been a conflict over economic interests.

Britain had already asked China to reinvestigate the death last November, following suggestions of suspicious circumstances. Family members in China and the UK have dismissed the idea of foul play and said he died of a heart attack.

Heywood's widow was at their home in a blossom-lined, upmarket housing compound in the northern suburbs of Beijing on Tuesday, but did not answer the door. Her late husband's silver Jaguar, bearing a Union Jack sticker, was parked in the driveway.

"No one is home," said a man in plain clothes who said he was head of security for the compound.

Britain and the US were briefed on the announcements shortly before they were made public.

William Hague has welcomed the reinvestigation, telling reporters: "It's a death that needs to be investigated, on its own terms and on its own merits, without political considerations."

Like many developments in the case, Tuesday night's bombshell announcements were presaged by a bout of speculation about such moves on the country's microblogs.

Despite censorship, many used the services to praise and attack Bo on Wednesday.

"Such a good official. He did so many good things for people … How much do the bad guys hate him!" wrote one internet user.

"He wanted to restore the cultural revolution. He even criticised and fought against his own father [during the cultural revolution]. Where is his goodness? I don't get it!" argued another.

A third noted simply: "What happened in Chongqing told us that no matter what is right or wrong, it is important to stand on the winning side."

Indonesia on tsunami alert after quake

 

Indonesia has issued a tsunami warning after an 8.6 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Sumatra, triggering concern across the Indian Ocean region. The US Geological Survey (USGS) said the quake occurred at 2.38pm local time. The epicentre was 434km south-west of Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh province, and occurred at a depth of 23km. The survey initially recorded the earthquake as 8.9 magnitude, but later downgraded it to 8.6. More   Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono downplayed the threat of a tsunami. He stressed that no damage had been reported so far. The government dispatched the head of the country’s disaster management agency to Banda Aceh. “[The] early warning system is working well,” Mr Yudhoyono told reporters at a press conference in Jakarta where he was meeting British prime minister David Cameron. Some scientists said the type of earthquake reduced the odds of a tsunami. Bruce Presgrave of the USGS told the BBC that the earth had moved horizontally, not vertically, meaning less water would have been displaced. “We can’t rule out the possibility, but horizontal motion is less likely to produce a destructive tsunami,” Mr Presgrave said. The quake was felt across the Indian Ocean from Indonesia and Vietnam to India. The USGS recorded at least three aftershocks in the region, one of which was magnitude 8.2. The southern Indian city of Chennai closed its port, while Phuket, a Thai island popular with tourists, closed its international airport as residents of the island and other southern Thai areas were ordered to higher ground. In Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s financial centre, some high-rise office buildings were briefly evacuated before people returned to work. Tata Consultancy Services, India’s largest IT outsourcing group by revenues, said it had sent home about 40,000 people working in the eastern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. “As a measure of extreme caution, we have evacuated all our employees from two of our large facilities around Chennai,” TCS said in a statement. Sasidhra Reddy, vice-president of India’s National Disaster Management Authority, told local TV channels that the his agency virtually ruled out the possibility of a tsunami hitting the Indian coast. A milder shock hit India’s major metro areas, including the capital New Delhi and Mumbai, the financial hub, and Bangalore, the nation’s IT centre. The epicentre of the quake was about 200km from that of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that left 170,000 dead or missing in Indonesia, while taking a total of about 230,000 people in 13 Indian Ocean nations. That tsunami was triggered by a 9.1 magnitude earthquake that hit the day after Christmas. In January this year, the same area was hit by a 7.3 magnitude earthquake that prompted a tsunami warning. No damage was reported, and authorities lifted the warning within two hours. Indonesia has been hit by several deadly quakes with a magnitude of greater than 7.0 since the 2004 disaster. The latest quake comes just a year after a 9.0 magnitude earthquake occurred off the northeastern coast of Japan, triggering a huge tsunami that devastated communities along hundreds of kilometres of the country’ north-east coast. The unexpected scale of the tsunami overwhelmed sea walls and other defences along what is one of the world’s most fortified coasts, wiping out large areas of towns and villages, destroying ports and sparking the world’s worst nuclear crisis in 25 years. The disaster left nearly 19,000 people dead or missing, but experts say that many more saved themselves by quickly moving to higher ground or tall buildings after the earthquake, a response that was the result of local memories of past tsunami and regular emergency drills.

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