BANGKOK: The Criminal Court in Thailand has issued an arrest warrant for a Cambodian national who allegedly worked as a spotter in the assassination of a Cambodian politician in Bangkok, a police officer said on Thursday (Jan 9).
Pol Col Sanong Saengmanee, commander of Chana Songkhram Police Station, said the court approved the warrant against Cambodian citizen Kimrin Pich, who is believed to have been an accomplice in the murder of former Cambodian opposition MP Lim Kimya.
Kimya was shot and killed in Bangkok at 5.45pm on Wednesday, shortly after arriving in the Thai capital.
He reportedly travelled to Bangkok by bus with his wife, a French national, and a Cambodian relative.
Investigators suspect that Kimrin alerted Ekkaluck Paenoi, the alleged gunman, to target Lim Kimya near Wat Bowonniwet Vihara in Bangkok’s Phra Nakhon district upon his arrival.
Ekkaluck, 41, a former Thai marine, was arrested by Cambodian police on Wednesday in Battambang province's Moung Ruessei district.
Meanwhile, Pol Maj-General Theeradej Thammasuthee, chief of the Metropolitan Police Bureau’s investigation division, said Ekkaluck had entered Cambodia illegally and would face charges there before being extradited to Thailand.
He said an official request has been sent to the Cambodian police to speed up the extradition, which may take two weeks to a month to complete.
Theeradej also revealed that Kimrin had entered Thailand with the victim and that security camera footage shows him surveying the area where the shooting later occurred.
Following the attack, Kimrin took a flight out of Suvarnabhumi International Airport.
Thai authorities believe additional Cambodian accomplices may have been involved in the murder, but details have yet to be disclosed. - The Nation/ANN
