Nine held over Krabi family massacre

“Seven of them are charged with committing the crimes,” Pol General Suchart Theerasawat, the adviser (Level 10) of the National Police Office, said yesterday. “Two others are at this point suspected of having been involved in some way.” 
The July 10 massacre shocked the nation. Shot execution-style were Worayuth Sunglung, a village head in Krabi’s Ao Luk district, and 10 other family members. Eight people were killed and three others were injured. The victims included women and children. 
On July 16, police announced that suspected mastermind, Surifath “Bang Fath” Bannoppawongsakul, 41, and his alleged accomplices were now in custody. 
“Surifath and Worayuth had a dispute over land plots that the latter used to obtain a mortgage from Surifath. After debts were cleared, Surifath had not returned the land-title deeds,” said Pol Maj-General Ittipol Achariyapradit, who is assigned to help with the investigation.
The ongoing investigation shows Worayuth was very angry and threatened to harm Surifath. 
“Surifath claimed Worayuth attempted to shoot him once in 2013,” Ittipol said. “So far, there is no record of a complaint filed with police about the shooting.” 
According to Ittipol, all suspects in the case are now being detained at a military camp. Interrogations are underway. A source revealed that the alleged accomplices of Surifath all testified that they were paid just Bt1,000 each to escort Surifath to Worayuth’s house. 
During the raid at the house, Worayuth was also forced to transfer the ownership of his car to Surifath.
“These suspects said Surifath claimed Worayuth owed him more than Bt3 million,” the source said. “The suspects also said they disobeyed Surifath’s order to shoot the victims. Surifath thus shot all the victims himself.”