Police feud in Bang Yi Khan

Weerakorn, slain outside Bang Yi Khan station

'You'd dare shoot me, would you?

To his police subordinate, it must have sounded like a challenge.

Suspect Watcharin 

'Why shouldn't I be brave enough?' his adversary hollered - before pulling out 9mm handgun, and shooting his boss in the shoulder.

Pol Lt Col Weerakorn Wiyawut, 38, fell to the ground. The deputy head of Crime Suppression police at Bang Yi Khan station tried to fend off the next shot with his hand, but it was too late.

His attacker, Pol Lt Wacharin Rakpratum, a detective at the station, positioned himself over Pol Lt Col Weerakorn's body, so he straddled his frame - then shot him three more times, including once in the right temple.

Pol Lt Col Weerakorn (วีรากร ไวยวุฒิ) died later at Siriraj Hospital. Pol Lt Wacharin, who had a history of bad blood with his superior, fled in a pick-up truck.

The shooting took place about 2am outside the Bang Yi Khan station in Bangkok (in the same neighbourhood as Mum's shop where I drink) on Oct 16. Pol Lt Wacharin - whom police pledged to hunt down like any common criminal - is still a fugitive.

Police said both officers were family men, hard-workers, and destined for higher things. Pol Lt Wacharin was drinking at a nearby Esan-style shop at 1am when a foot patrol turned up to tell the owner to close the place.

According to some reports, Pol Lt Wacharin (วัชรินทร์ รักประทุม) took two others officers with him, and was pretending to buy methamphetamines from a dealer.

His boss, who sent out the foot patrol to make sure all drinking spots in the area closed by the legal time of 1am, was unaware of what he was doing.

Pol Lt Wacharin, furious at having his policework undermined, raced back to the police station, where he confronted Pol Lt Col Weerakorn. The pair argued, and Pol Lt Wacharin shot his boss.

Other reports suggest Pol Lt Wacharin was simply drinking, and upset to be thrown out of the place. In front of his friends, he suffered a loss of face. Some reports say he was drinking from early evening; others say he started after 11pm.

If he was indeed buying drugs undercover, his boss would presumably have known about it. But the official police reaction, in the immediate aftermath of the shooting: 'It was a personal dispute, and nothing to do with the way police perform their duty.'

Deputy Metropolitan Police Commander Kritsada Pankongchuen denied Pol Lt Wacharin had called wanting to give himself in, but urged him to do so for his own safety. 'If you meet one of Pol Lt Col Weerakorn's friends, you may not be safe,' he said.

In another odd twist, a witness at the hospital when Pol Lt Col Weerakorn's body arrived says he saw someone take B200,000 from the policeman's back pocket. He gave it to another officer for safe-keeping.

However, after Pol L Col Weerakorn's death, no one seemed able to account for the cash, which left his police colleagues worried that his wife and children would have to do without. What was Pol Lt Col Weerakorn doing carrying so much cash around with him? No one has said (อมเงิน 2 แสนพตท. เหยื่อรตท.ซวยซํ้า!)

On the internet, one man claims Bang Yi Khan police are dirty. He has posted details of a police complaint he made alleging assault, illegal detention, fabrication of evidence against officers at the station, including Pol Lt Col Weerakorn.

He updated his webpage to applaud Pol Lt Col Weerakorn's death - without wanting to heap misery on the deceased's family, mind - saying he was happy he had now reaped the consequences of his bad deeds.

Bang Yi Khan police station in Pin Khlao

I asked Pa, Mum's husband, what happened.

We have followed the drama because it occured so close to where they have their shop...a mere 5 minute walk into the soi, in fact.

Police from Bang Yi Khan station, where the killing took place, turn up regularly at the shop for a drink, even in uniform, and sometimes armed. 

'Conflict of interest,' he said simply.

The two men were fighting over spoils to be gained from squeezing this shopkeeper, or that local businessman.

It's all in a day's work for Thai police...nothing to get excited about, except sometimes these squabbles over who should get what under-the-table money can end in death.

Update: police caught up with Pol Lt Wacharin in early December in Narathiwat, as he was attempting to flee across the border to Malaysia. The Taling Chan district court in Bangkok the following August sentenced him to seven years, eight months in jail, dismissing prosecutor arguments that it was a premeditaed killing. 

His superior, Pol Lt Col Weerakorn, it said, had abused him and made him beg for forgiveness at his feet, fuelling Pol Lt Wacharin's anger. The accused's family said it was happy with the verdict, though was likely to appeal.