PHUKET
CRIME
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Farang Restaurant owner shot in Phuket
PHUKET: The owner of the Phuket-based Farang restaurant
chain was shot dead while sitting with friends at
one of his dining venues on Friday night.
The victim, Chit Raknanga, a successful and popular
Thai national known to his friends as 'Tik', was shot
at close range by a man who had arrived at the restaurant
on the back of a motorcycle.
According to an eyewitness who spoke to the Phuket
Gazette, the killer walked into the restaurant at
about 9:30pm – not 1am as had been earlier reported
on a local blog – and shot the victim three times;
once in the head and twice in the body. He then fled
on the motorcycle driven by an accomplice.
Less than 10 people were reported to have been dining
in the restaurant at the time of the killing, after
which police took approximately 20 minutes to arrive
at the scene, according to the witness.
Police said that the victim was sitting at a table
with two friends when the murder occurred.
The victim's brother Chart, also in the restaurant
at the time of the murder, told the Gazette this morning
that Tik's body, accompanied by his wife Tien, was
today flown to Tik's home province, Ubon Ratchatani,
for cremation. He said that arrangements would also
be made very soon for merit-making here in Phuket.
Senior Phuket Provincial police officers told the
Gazette that they were not yet sure of the motive
for the killing and are currently following several
lines of inquiry, including the possibility of personal
and business-related conflicts.
The partially open-air restaurant serving Italian,
European and Thai food on the bypass road opposite
Index is one of two Farang Restaurant branches in
Phuket, the other being in Cherngtalay. A third has
recently been opened in Bangkok.
According to a Gazette shareholder who was close to
the victim, preparations had already been made to
move the restaurant's current location on the bypass
road across that road to The Point, a new apartment
complex opposite Big C.
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