Reports including a plea for understanding from the rogue officer’s first wife this week suggest that the origins of the feud may have been a financial dispute and investment that went wrong in the policeman’s relationship with his father-in-law through his second wife who also was murdered.
A Thai police task force in southern Surat Thani province is hunting down a member of the force who has been linked to a bloody family feud which has seen six people murdered in the province including his brother, son and wife since last Saturday evening April 8th when he led an armed assault on the home of a former village headman and his father in law in which four people perished. Police Senior Sergeant Major Atthaporn Wichian is believed to be taking refuge in a forested nature reserve and to be receiving assistance from an extended support network. The attack, last Saturday, in which M16 assault rifles from the local Khirirat Nikhom Police Station were used, has seen the local police chief transferred according to a high-profile press briefing given by Police General Surachate Hakparn this week and senior officers of Provincial Police Region 8.
A police task force in Surat Thani is combing a large reserve area in the southern province searching for a former officer who is wanted concerning the killing of his wife, father-in-law and two others after a family feud erupted this week leaving six people dead.
On Saturday evening, April 8th last, in the Khiri Rat Nikhom District of Surat Thani, Police Senior Sergeant Major Atthaporn Wichian led a party of three men armed with a pistol and M16 assault rifles believed to have been taken from Khirirat Nikhom Police Station where the police officer serves in crime suppression, to launch an attack the residence of 56-year-old Mr Thammarong Nilniyom, a former headman of the village where he lived and the father of 34-year-old Panida or Tak Nilniyom, who was Police Senior Sergeant Major Atthaporn’s second wife.
Firefight following assault on the home of a former village headman saw policeman’s brother killed by defenders resisting the attack and three others
During the assault on the house, four people were killed in a firefight that broke out.
The dead included the former headman, Mr Thammarong, his wife, 49-year-old Mrs Nilthip Palakachen, a former headman of another village Mr Pornsak Petchchu and the brother of the attacking police officer, 48-year-old Mr Thammarat Wichien who was killed by those defending the home.
Investigating police, later, on Monday, found the body of Ms Panida at a holiday resort in Khirirat Nikhom.
She had been shot in the mouth. Her body was found in the Leela room of the Wadi Resort. She was shot using a 9mm firearm.
It is understood that the motive for the attacks and the outbreak of violence was a financial dispute between the policeman son in law and his father-in-law over some sort of investment scheme that went awry.
Son found murdered in car outside a temple
On Sunday night, the Provincial Court in Surat Thani issued an arrest warrant for Police Senior Sergeant Major Atthaporn as well as for a 57-year-old unemployed man named Mr Manop Wang-ngan in connection with the attacks and killings.
That evening, the son of Police Senior Sergeant Major Atthaporn by his first wife, 25-year-old Bas Wichien, was found dead outside the temple where the funeral rites for Mr Thammarat Wichien, the brother of the on-the-run policeman, were being held.
He was found in his white Honda car with both his hands tied and killed by a bullet fired into his right temple.
Mr Manop was arrested on Monday in the Thap Put district of Phang-nga province.
‘Big Joke’ revealed a previous attempt on the former village headman’s life on December 31st using a high-powered rifle and a suppressed investigation
At a press conference given on Wednesday by Police General Surachate Hakparn or ‘Big Joke’ where he was joined by senior provincial police officers in the South, Police General Surachate revealed that an attempt had previously been made on the life of Mr Thammarong, the ex headman, on December 31st 2022 in which a military-style weapon was used but that an investigation into the incident had been suppressed.
The press briefing was ordered by National Police Commissioner General Damrongsak Kittiprapas to allay public concern about the affair.
It was announced by Police Lieutenant General Surapong Thanomchit, the chief of Provincial Police Region 8, that the station chief at Khirirat Nikhom, Police Colonel Kriangkrai Ketkaew had been transferred to an operations centre post at headquarters while the case was being fully investigated.
Police General Surachate confirmed that Police Senior Sergeant Major Atthaporn was still at large and that he had obtained the M16 firearms from the police station where he worked.
He is currently thought to be armed with one of the rifles and a 9mm pistol.
฿100,000 reward offered by Surat Thani police chief for information leading to the rogue policeman’s arrest as manhunt continues across two subdistricts
A reward of ฿100,000 was offered by Provincial Police for clues or pointers to his whereabouts as a task force of approximately 200 men begin their search for him on a mission to track him down and make an arrest.
This was revealed by Police Major General Saranyoo Chamnanrach, the chief of Surat Thani Provincial Police on Wednesday.
Reporters were told that police had raided homes in the search area targeted across two sub-districts which include large areas of forested land.
Police had detected signs of unknown visitors who had been eating and sleeping at the locations.
He said DNA samples had been ordered for forensic examination.
Receiving help from his personal network
It is believed that Police Senior Sergeant Major Atthaporn is being assisted by either some relatives or friends as he continues to evade capture as the case in question is very much linked to a family dispute and loyalties.
The latest report suggests that Police Senior Sergeant Major Atthaporn has been trying to negotiate with police to surrender himself after the Songkran holiday period while trying to explore the possibility of obtaining bail from the court.
His first wife has told reporters that the circumstances of the affair are not yet fully understood, alluding to a dispute over money and family betrayal.
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