Thai court will on Monday begin extradition hearings for alleged Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

Thai court will on Monday begin extradition hearings for alleged Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, which could see the man dubbed the "Merchant of Death" face terrorism charges in the United States.Bout, who acquired his macabre nickname for his alleged role in supplying weapons to some of the world's bloodiest conflicts, was arrested in Bangkok in March after a sting operation headed by US agents.Thailand's criminal court must decide whether there is enough evidence to send Bout to the US, where he faces four counts of terrorism for seeking to sell millions of dollars of weapons to Colombia's Marxist FARC rebels.During an elaborate undercover operation, Bout allegedly agreed to supply surface-to-air missiles to US anti-drug agents posing as rebels from FARC, which Washington considers to be a foreign terrorist organisation.
He has also been charged with conspiracy to kill US officers or employees and conspiracy to acquire and use an anti-aircraft missile.US officials including Attorney General Michael Mukasey have said they are optimistic the Thai court will allow the extradition.Bout faces life in prison if convicted by a US court, and has been held at a maximum-security prison outside Bangkok since his arrest on March 6. The former Soviet air force officer has denied the charges against him.
Bout's Thai lawyer Lak Nitiwatvichan said the court was likely on Monday to hear testimonies from US embassy staff and Thai police involved in the case."I don't know how long the hearings will take, but I am confident I can prove the charges are politically motivated," Lak told AFP.
A US indictment accuses Bout of using a fleet of cargo planes to transport weapons and military equipment to Africa, South America and the Middle East.Prosecutors said that as a result of alleged trafficking in Liberia, Bout was in 2004 placed on the US government's Specially Designated Nationals list, prohibiting any transactions between US nationals and Bout.Bout is accused of being a global gun-runner since the 1990s, and is believed to have supplied arms to the Taliban militia, Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda terror network and former Liberian leader Charles Taylor.
The mustachioed Russian's dealings are said to have inspired the Hollywood movie "Lord of War," starring Nicolas Cage as a ruthless arms trader.His apparent downfall came after a 12-month undercover operation in which US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents infiltrated Bout's inner circle posing as Colombian rebels seeking an arsenal of weapons.

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investigation into the conduct of a Thai policeman who shot dead Leo Del Pinto

Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej today (Thursday) formally ordered an investigation into the conduct of a Thai policeman who shot dead a Canadian tourist and injured a second.The Thai Premier, in his role as the Chairman of the Department of Special Investigations, ordered the DSI to formally investigate charges of murder and attempted murder.The move comes in the midst of allegations that police in Pai, a picturesque tourist village in northern Thailand, deliberately attempted to cover up the actions of one of their own officers, whom they had to investigate.
The case was taken up by the Thai Human Rights Commission. Commissioner Saisuree Kosolnavin and a team found evidence that completely contradicted the investigation conducted by Police Colonel Sombat Panya of the local Pai police.Colonel Panya claimed that Canadian Leo Del Pinto, 24, from Calgary and Carly Reisig, 24, from Chilliwack, B.C. had made an unprovoked attack on Police Sergeant Uthai Dechawiwat after he broke up a fight between them in January this year.
Uthai, he claimed, shot in self defence as he fell to the ground. His automatic hada hair trigger.The police story was subsequently published in the local press and the wire stories and transmitted worldwide.Police further said that nevertheless Sgt Uthai had been charged with murder and attempted murder but on investigation there was no court record of such charges.Witnesses and forensic evidence examined by Thailand’s leading pathologist Dr. Pornthip Rojanasund however totally contradicted the police story. Forensic evidence showed that the policeman shot down into Del Pinto’s head. Witnesses said that Sergeant Uthai pistol whipped Ms Reisig before shooting her under her left breast.The conduct of the police had earlier been referred by the TNHRC to the country’s Anti-Corruption Commission.
Dr. Saisuree said: “This development is very encouraging. The process has already started as Ms. Reisig and another witness have been allowed to give evidence in court.”

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Viktor Bout "Merchant of Death," has charges dropped

Thai police dropped charges Wednesday against a Russian man accused of being one of the world's most prolific black market arms dealers, saying they will proceed with hearings to extradite him to the United States.Viktor Bout, a 41-year-old Russian, faces several counts in the U.S. of "conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization" for allegedly arranging to sell and transport weapons, including portable surface-to-air missiles to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.Lt. Gen. Phongphan Chayaphan, chief of the Thai police's Crime Suppression Division, said Bout would remain detained pending extradition hearings, which he estimated would take 60 days.Bout's lawyer in Thailand, Lak Nitiwatanavichan, said he would fight extradition.
Bout, who has been called the "Merchant of Death," was arrested March 6 at a Bangkok hotel after a sting operation in which undercover U.S. agents pretended to be arms buyers from the Colombian rebels.He could face 15 years in prison on the U.S. charge. Thai authorities had held him on a charge of using the country as a base to negotiate a weapons deal with terrorists, for which he could have been imprisoned for 10 years.Regarded as one of the world's most wanted arms traffickers, Bout's alleged list of customers since the early 1990s includes African dictators and warlords, including former Liberian President Charles Taylor, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and both sides of the civil war in Angola. In the process, he has been accused of breaking several U.N. arms embargoes.
Bout, who was purportedly the model for the arms dealer portrayed by Nicolas Cage in the 2005 movie "Lord of War," has denied the current allegations against him and any criminal activities in the past.Bout's lawyer Lak said the U.S. charges were political in nature and did not represent a criminal case because the Colombian government is fighting the FARC rebels over differences of ideology. He also said the conflict in Colombia is outside of U.S. jurisdiction.Extradition treaties between nations generally do not allow turning over suspects in cases of a political nature.

Lak said the Thai attorney general's office was awaiting more documents from the United States before officially forwarding the extradition case to court.

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Waehabae Tuankama was shot dead by a pillion

An informant for the authorities was killed in a drive-by shooting here late Sunday night, police siad.Police said Waehabae Tuankama, 15, was shot dead by a pillion rider while he was riding his motorcycle home in Narathiwat's Muang district at about 12:10 am.Police said Waehabae was trailed after by a motorcycle after his work at a karaoke bar. The pillion rider fired a 9mm pistol at him ten times.Waehabae was an informant for the authorities, police said.

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Viktor Bout aka Lord of War, world's most notorious arms dealer

Thai police arrested perhaps the world's most notorious arms dealer, Viktor Bout, on Thursday after a sting operation in which US agents posed as Colombian rebels seeking an arsenal of modern weapons.
The former Russian air force pilot now faces extradition to the United States, where New York prosecutors have formally charged him and an associate with conspiring to sell millions of dollars in arms to terrorists.
The 40-year-old suspect -- who famously served as a model for actor Nicholas Cage's arms smuggling anti-hero in the Hollywood movie "Lord of War" -- was arrested at a luxury hotel in the Thai capital Bangkok, police said.Reports have linked him to civil wars in Africa and he is said to have helped arm Afghanistan's Taliban militia, Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network, Marxist rebels in South America and Liberian warlord Charles Taylor.One British minister dubbed the Russian the "Merchant of Death" and the pressure group Amnesty International has alleged that at one time he operated a fleet of more than 50 planes ferrying weapons shipments around Africa.In Washington, officials said Bout had been arrested after sources working for the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) mounted a sting operation by posing as Colombian guerrillas seeking to buy weapons.According to a previously sealed complaint released by New York prosecutors, the DEA sources set up several meetings with Bout's associate Andrew Smulian in Romania, Denmark and the Dutch West Indies to discuss a deal.During the meetings, agents recorded telephone calls to Bout in which he discussed shipping an arsenal of deadly weapons, including helicopters, armour-piercing rocket launchers and surface-to-air missiles.
"We were able to infiltrate his criminal organisation, to gain access to some of his key associates," said a DEA official who asked not to be named."These undercover sources were acting as high level representatives of the FARC, attempting to obtain arms," he explained, referring to the rebels of the illegal Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).Major General Pongpat Chayaphan of the Thai police told AFP in Bangkok that Bout was arrested after a Thai court issued a warrant against him for attempted mass murder."He is now in the custody of the Crime Suppression Division. We will take legal action against him here, before deporting him to face trial in another country, likely the US," he said."We have followed him for several months. He just came back to Thailand today," Pongpat said, adding that more details would be given on Friday.Police brought Bout, an overweight figure with cropped dark hair, a moustache and a bright orange polo shirt, into their headquarters in handcuffs.Following the arrest, US prosecutors from the Southern District of New York said they would seek Bout's extradition to face charges "for conspiracy to provide material support to a terrorist organization".Bout's native Russia will also seek Bout's extradition, according to an official cited by the Ria-Novosti news agency, while Belgium has asked the international police agency Interpol to issue a global alert for him.In Liberia, a former officer with ousted dictator Taylor's intelligence service on Thursday described Bout as a "timber trader who paid his bills with weapons" destined for the warlord's notoriously brutal army.
Between 1998 and 2001, when Liberia was in the grip of civil war and subject to a United Nations arms embargo, Bout's boats arrived at the Liberian port of Buchanan loaded with weapons and left carrying wood, he said.A former Soviet air force officer who was born in 1967, Bout was dubbed the "Merchant of Death" by former British government minister Peter Hain due to his involvement in supplying arms to Liberia and Angola.
In March last year, US Treasury Department imposed sanctions against seven companies accused of fueling the war in Democratic Republic of Congo at the start of the decade. Three of the companies were linked to Bout.

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well-known hitman murders Dale George Henry has rocked the tight-knit expat community in Thailand

Dale George Henry, 48, was shot point blank in the head Feb. 3 in his home in Ranong, Thailand. His 27-year-old wife, a Thai woman who married him five years ago, is accused of hiring a hitman so she could collect on his $1-million life insurance policy.

Now, Mary-Jane Matheson is left worrying about making arrangements, not for funeral flowers, but her own safety.Hire security -- that's the first thing we'll want to do. I'm frightened of hitmen," Matheson said before boarding a flight Monday night to Vancouver"I've been told to go straight to the embassy. I'm going to ask them to have somebody pick me up."Family learned of Henry's death only last Tuesday, when his brother Richard was contacted by police at his home in Victoria.Richard has flown to the southeast Asian country and will sit inside a temple with his brother's body. A Thai funeral begins Wednesday.Henry had been living in Thailand for the past decade, frequently flying between there and Nigeria, where he worked for a U.S.-based oil drilling company.
His marriage to Manreet Nee, who is 20 years his junior, was his first.
Henry, a Canadian who spent much of his life in the Calgary area, worked about a decade ago as a firefighter and emergency medical technician in Cochrane before contracting as a safety consultant for oil companies.
"Our 10-hour days went by quick," said former Cochrane paramedic/firefighter Mike Lamacchia. He and Henry were partners in 1991 and 1992."He was a great health care provider, a lot of fun to be around. He wasn't a shy guy. He was definitely heard wherever he went."He could tell a ton of jokes. It was never boring being around Dale."Lamacchia said he was stunned when he learned of Henry's dramatic death.

In 1994, Henry started a Calgary-based consulting business, Panther Safety Services, specializing in safety audits, inspections, training and safety program development.

Henry was due to return to work in Nigeria Feb. 22 after recovering from a broken leg that became infected. The injury occurred during a fall while hiking in the jungle.
Looking back, Matheson said she believes that was the first attempt on her brother's life.
The crime has resulted in the arrest of Dale's wife, Manreet Nee, an alleged hitman and a third man, said to be Nee's lover.

It's believed the motive for the killing was a million-dollar-plus insurance policy Henry had through his company.
The murder has rocked the tight-knit expat community in Thailand, many of whom are speaking out online about what they say is a corrupt justice system.
Australian Mac McLeod said in a telephone interview Monday night that the alleged hitman has killed before.
"It is well-known that he is a hitman. That is his job," said McLeod, who left Thailand several years ago in fear for his own life after a run-in with the man accused of pulling the trigger on Henry.
He said the area where Henry lived, a town called Panong in the south, is not heavily populated by ex-pats.

"There are all sorts of nefarious characters. There are more hitmen around Thailand than anywhere. That's the way they do business there -- it's a buck a gun."
He joked that "Dracula once went and barely escaped with his fangs."
Henry is the second Canadian slain in Thailand in as many months. Calgary native Leo Del Pinto, 25, was shot to death Jan. 6 while he and a friend were walking home in Pai. A Thai police officer has been charged in that case.

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Anuchit Lamlert

Anuchit Lamlert, 24, an unemployed man who has been arrested many times for robbing foreign tourists, The Nation reported. The suspect has confessed to the killing. However, he would not give the reason. After committing the crime, he escaped from the scene by his motorcycle and threw the gun to the bushes. Thai Police are now searching for the murder weapon.
Police tracked down Lamlert after spreading a photo robot of the gunman and set award of $15,000 for information about his whereabouts. The image was made with the help of digital procession of a security camera video. The image was completed by testimony of a crime witness. The witness said the photo robot "resembled remarkably" a man he saw fleeing the crime scene when the Russian tourists were gunned.
As Newslab reported earlier, two tourists from Kemerovo Tatiana Tsimfer, 30, and Lyubov Svirkova, 25, were murdered on the beach in front of the Thai resort hotel in Pattaya on February 24. No evidence of struggle or violence were found. There were drinks unfinished and mobile phones nearby on the sand. Thai police reported that there had been several tens of incoming calls on the mobile phones of the girls not long before their killing.
The results of a medical forensic expert examination received after an autopsy of the bodies were made public on February 28. The amount of alcohol in the girls' blood was high enough, now drugs were detected. Experts stated that the tourists had had sexual contacts within for days preceding the murder. The fact is partially confirmed by the words of their relatives, who said the girls had been a success with men in Thailand, RBC reported. Svirkova's mother told her daughter wanted to leave before the trip pass was expired because of assertive courting by local men.
Despite the confession, the investigation is continuing on the basis of other leads suggesting the motive for the killings may not have been robbery. Police is identifying the mobile callers. Police are also checking information that a European man might have been also involved in the killing. Murderers are wanted among Russian tourists, youth Thai biker groups and international criminal gangs. The girls' bodies will be taken to Novosibirsk and passed to their relatives on March 2.

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Tatyana Tsimfer,Lyubov Svirkova

Tatyana Tsimfer, born 1977, and Lyubov Svirkova, born 1982, who had come from the Siberian city of Kemerovo, fell victims of the crime. Their bodies were found on a beach on Saturday morning. In the opinion of experts, the killings took place on February 24 at around four of five o’ clock in the morning.Investigators of the case on the murder of Russian tourists at the Thai resort city of Pattaya have a video clip which can help in exposing the crime, Russian Consul to Thailand Vladimir Pronin told on Sunday.
According to Pronin, the video recording was made by one of outside iconoscopes, located not far from the place of the crime. Russian Ambassador to Thailand Yevgeny Afanasyev met personally senior investigators on Sunday.
In the opinion of operatives, the case looks very complicated, since reasons for the murder are murky. Over 100 policemen participate in the investigation of the crime. The investigation examines various versions, apart from robbery, since personal belongings of the girls were not stolen.
One of witnesses who turned to be not far from the place of the murder, heard shots. Then, he saw a young man, running away from the beach. The supposed criminal ran to the road and sped away on a motorcycle.
Policemen who came to the place of the accident, found out that the Russian girls were killed with four shots. There were no traits of struggle on their bodies or violence. Next to them, there were half-empty drinks, a handset and other personal belongings of the girls.
According to some information, they lived at the Dragon Beach Resort Hotel and were to leave the resort on March 3. They had been seen the last time on Friday evening, resting on the beach.
Police find leads in Russian tourists' murder
Thai police investigators have produced some clues suggesting that a gang of foreigners may have been involved in the murder of two Russian tourists at Jomtien beach in the popular seaside resort of Pattaya on Saturday morning.
Police Lieutenant General Assawin Kwanmuang, Region 2 Provincial Police commissioner, said he had instructed the police investigating team to seek an early arrest of the culprit after close examination of
the victims' holiday snapshots taken while visiting some tourist attractions as well as security camera images which found that a gang of foreigners, in particular "The Chopper Gang", a local group in
Pattaya, may have been involved in the killings.
The police officer did not provide more details about the so-called gang, but indicated that mobile phone records of the two women are being thoroughly checked for further evidence as they used local simcards to call in and out prior to the killings.
Earlier police offered a Bt100,000 (about US$3,000) reward for the capture of the gunman. They also released a video monitor sequence of a tall man aged about 30, captured by security camera, parking a
motorcycle at a beachside road, running to the two Russian women and shooting the pair before fleeing on the motorcycle.
Gen. Assawin said Sunday that the women worked as telephone operators in Russia and were visiting Thailand for the first time with a tour group. They had noting to do with illegal transnational prostitution,
according to personal records shown by a representative from the Russian Embassy.
He also ruled out the possibility of robbery as the victims' belongings were left untouched.
Pattaya, about 110 kilometres (70 miles) southeast of Bangkok, is popular among foreign holidaymakers. The beach resort attracts tens of thousands of Russian tourists every year.
Russia ready to help in Thailand investigation into tourists murder Russia is ready to render assistance for the investigation in Thailand into the murder of Russian tourists in Pattaya, a Russian embassy source in Bangkok told Itar-Tass.
All the local police forces have joined the investigation. The authorities do everything to catch the murderer. However, there is no definite circle of suspects yet. The case is very complicated, since the crime motives are unclear. Various versions are under consideration, including involvement of local and Russian criminals.
Everybody with whom the young women talked after arriving in Thailand are questioned. Russian Consul Vladimir Pronin said nobody of the Russian tourists refused to answer questions of investigators. Consulate representatives and Pronin personally are present at the questioning and help to translate documents that are needed for the investigation.
A 100,000-bat (3,000 dollars) reward is promised for information about the murderer.
Police released a sketch yesterday of a man suspected of killing two Russian women in Pattaya on Saturday.
Officers said the image was taken from video footage from security cameras at a convenience store near where Tatiana Tsimfer, 30, and Liubov Svirkova, 25, were found dead in deckchairs at 5am on Jomtien beach on February 24.
Police did not clarify whether the mugshot of the unidentified man was produced from the blurry camera image - later enhanced electronically - or if it simply matched a profile in their criminal records after the visual enhancement was done.
It shows a man who appears to be a Thai in his 20s.
Pattaya City mayor Nirand Watthanasartsathorn had said earlier that police were looking for a tall foreign man, possibly from a Middle Eastern country.
Head investigator Pol Lt-General Assawin Khwanmueng said later the sketch was drawn based on accounts of an eyewitness now under protection. The officer said the witness called the sketch a "remarkable resemblance" of the gunman he saw shooting the victims.
Prize money for information leading to the arrest of the killer/s was increased to Bt500,000 yesterday from the original Bt100,000. The police hotline is 081-875-1637.
A police source said earlier that Svirkova complained to her mother she felt uneasy being wooed by some men and had felt like going home, according to a police interview with the mother.
"She told her mum Pattaya was a nice place and Thai people were great, but she felt like returning home because some men were always trying to chat to her. Then she hung up," the source said.
The mother said Svirkova's call showed no sign of fear or worry of being followed by her admirers. However, Russian media had earlier published an interview with the father of Tsimfer, who said she had sounded scared during their last chat, saying she had had some sort of threat.
The source said police had interviewed five Russian men who had hung around with both women for several days before they were shot, and that two of the men said they had sex with the women - but had nothing to do with their murders.
The source added the women also made friends with a group of foreign chopper motorcycle riders who hang out around Marine Plaza.

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Bank, Nakhon Kwaenkhetgun, Mongkol Yatra,

Police denied killing the three and suspect their deaths resulted from "silence killing" among criminals.
The discovery of three dead bodies on Ban HipUthai Road in Ayutthaya's Uthai district at 4.20am yesterday brought an end to the police manhunt for Akkharapol "Bank" Sampaoyoung, accused of killing three policemen on duty in Ayutthaya on New Year's Eve
Bank, 22, was found dead with multiple bulletwounds in his back along with Nakhon Kwaenkhetgun, 18, and Mongkol Yatra, 20. Bank carried a loaded 11mm pistol while Mongkol carried a loaded .22 pistol. Their two motorbikes were found nearby.
Provincial Police Region 1 commissioner, Pol LtGen Rachata Yensuang, identified one of the body's as Akkharapol. Rachata offered an initial suspicion that Akkharapol, who was wanted on many criminal charges, might have run out of money so he returned to Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya. He said Akkharapol had narrowly escaped from police in Phetchabun on Wednesday, leading to incorrect news reports that police had taken him into custody.
He affirmed the police did not kill the three men and that their cause of death would be investigated.
However, Akkharapol's mother Rattana Sampao said she did not believe her son was killed by his own fellows or "gangsters". Rattana said her son had contacted police to turn himself in through a Bang Pain policeman.
She said Akkharapol was supposed to turn himself in on Wednesday morning, when she and Akkharapol's wife were accompanied by Bang Pain policemen to a resort in Lop Buri for them to wait for the news. She said she also informed reporters at 8am on Wednesday about Akkharapol's appointment to turn himself in with police in Ban Nong Lai in Petchabun's Ban Phai district.
Rattana said she lost contact with her son at about 5pm on Wednesday, after which the Bang Pain officers were told via a phone call from some police to take her and daughterinlaw home. She said police must have lured her son and abducted him to another location before he was shot dead.
Rattana said she would not file a compliant against police out of concern for her family's safety but just wanted society to know that her son tried to turn himself in but was extrajudicially killed.
Chamnan Ponsaard, the owner of "Jae Taew Restaurant", where Akkharapol was reportedly arrested according to a Thai newspaper, or was appointed to meet with police according to Rattana, recalled an incident at about 9.30am on Wednesday when three men on two motorbikes came to order some food. After serving them, Chamnan and his mother went back to the kitchen.

They heard a truck with people making a loud noise arrived, so Chamnan and his mother hid at the back of restaurant until everything went quiet, he said. They then found that the three customers and their motorbikes had disappeared without paying the bill, he added.
"We didn't think much about that because it (customers running away without paying bills) happens often. After we heard the news that the three might be the copkiller suspects, we were in shock but we cannot confirm if they are the copkiller suspects because we don't notice their faces. We cannot remember the faces of those driving them either, but they shouldn't be police," he added.
However, Colonel Kornek Petchchaiwes who led the manhunt aid that his team had learned that Akkharapol was hiding in Petchabun's Nong Phai district so they went there but found nothing so they returned to Ayutthaya.
"All day long there were rumours that police had arrested this suspect (Akkharapol), but I confirm that my team did not arrest him and did not extrajudicially kill him," he said
Later Thursday, Dr Suranong Srisuwan from Thammasat Hospital in Pathum Thani's Khlong Luang district revealed that Akkharapol died from some 50 shotgun bullets in his back, destroying all his internal organs. There was no sign of other physical abuse on him, he added.
Akkharapol and his friends were wanted for allegedly killing three Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya police officers - Pol Lance Coperal Sila Waenngern, 25, Pol SgtMaj Preeda Joijutha, 35, and Pol Snr SgtMaj Kosin Manprom, 41, on December 31, 2007.
The officers reportedly tried to arrest Akkharapol while he was celebrating the New Year holiday at a relative's home in Bang Pahan district, but were met with a hail of gunfire, after which Akkharapol and his friends fled. Police set a reward of Bt500,000 for information leading to their arrest.
In related news, Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya police and the three officers' family members yesterday morning held a merit making ceremony. Pol Snr SgtMaj Kosin's wife Sunthri Manprom said she was glad that Akkharapol died, no matter who killed him, as he was repaid the bad karma he gave. If he were alive, she would file a lawsuit against him, she said, but since he was dead, she forgave him.

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Canadian tourist shot dead

A Canadian tourist was shot dead and his wife wounded early yesterday morning near a pub in Mae Hong Son province after a scuffle with a policeman.
Pol Sgt-Major Uthai Dechawiwat claimed shots were fired accidentally after the foreign couple tried to snatch his pistol from him. Policeman faces murder charge after scuffle with drunk couple
The 37-year-old policeman, who was released on bail after being charged with murder and manslaughter, said he had struggled to get his service pistol back from John Leo Del Pinto and his wife Carly Reisig.
He said he had used the gun to threaten them when he was down on the ground after the couple beat him up.
Del Pinto, 25, took a shot in the mouth, from which the bullet travelled through his shoulder, and another shot on the left side of his torso, while Reisig, 24, was shot on the left side of her torso.
Uthai initially fled but give himself up to Pai police not long afterwards.
Quoting witnesses, case investigator Pol Lt-Colonel Sombat Panya said the couple had been drinking in a local pub called Ting Tong. They became involved in a drunken brawl after Del Pinto, who recently arrived in Thailand, found out that Reisig had become pregnant with a Thai man known as Fuen.
The couple continued arguing after they left the pub when Uthai arrived at the scene, near a bridge, on personal business. Uthai approached them and asked them to be calm but both foreigners turned to attack him.
The officer said Uthai was beaten to the ground by the couple. After managing to get up, Uthai pointed his service pistol to threaten away both foreigners, but Del Pinto tried to snatch the pistol from him. After a scuffle, shots were fired and the couple went down.
Del Pinto died at the scene at about 2am and Reisig was sent to a hospital in Chaing Mai, where she is in a safe condition.
Sombat said he had not interviewed Reisig about what happened and no offence had yet been filed against her.
Thai policeman shot dead a Canadian tourist and wounded his pregnant ex-wife during a scuffle outside a bar, authorities said today.
John Leo Del Pinto, 25, died after being shot in the face and torso while Carly Reisig, also from Canada, was taken to hospital with a bullet wound.
Colonel Sombat Panya, of Pai district police in northern Mae Hong Son, said the officer involved claimed the shooting was an accident.
But he revealed Sergeant Uthai Dechawiwat had since been charged with premeditated murder and released on bail.
Del Pinto and Reisig, who rented a home in the town of Mae Hong Son, were drinking at a bar in Pai on Saturday night.
Witness described how the pair began arguing after Del Pinto learned that Reisig had become pregnant with a Thai man, Sombat said.
Outside the bar the argument turned physical, and when Uthai tried to intervene the couple attacked him, officials said.
The police officer told investigators that Del Pinto had tried to grab his pistol and the gun "accidentally went off" three times.
"The policeman, who is about 1.6m tall, was beaten to the ground by the man, a bodybuilder, and the hippy woman," said the local police chief, Wanchai Suwanririkate.
Del Pinto, a frequent visitor to Pai, died at the scene, while Reisig was rushed to hospital in the nearby province of Chiang Mai. One of the bullets grazed her upper left torso but her foetus was unharmed, Sombat said.
Uthai was charged with premeditated murder for Del Pinto's death, and with "intent to kill" in connection with Reisig, Sombat added.
A spokesman for the Canadian embassy in Bangkok was not available for comment. It is not known where in Canada the couple were from. Where it is at the end of a spectacular three-hour mountain drive lies the bohemian backpacker town of Pai. Located in the remote mountains of the North, it’s one of the least accessible tourist towns in the country, but that doesn’t stop the place filling up over the busy season.

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10 per cent of all murders of Britons abroad are committed in Thailand

On any given day, tens of thousands of prostitutes can be seen working the brothels, bars, streets, hotel lobbies, beach fronts and even shopping malls of this gaudy city. Pattaya is also the focus for high levels of criminal activity involving international gangs from Russia, Germany, the UK and China. The number of deaths of British nationals' in Pattaya is hard to ascertain – though some sources claim that it is up to four every week, neither the FCO nor the Thai authorities have any data they are prepared to release. However, what can be speculated with some confidence is that of the 226 average annual deaths of British citizens in Thailand recorded by the FCO, a large percentage are in Pattaya. (The FCO refuse to list causes of deaths, so we must also speculate as to the reasons for this morbid hotspot. Anecdotal evidence suggests straightforward causes of death for some, such as road accidents and health problems; then there are the suspicious-sounding "suicides" – jumping from balconies seems to be a favoured method.)
Toby Charnaud, brutally slain by his Thai wife. Now, his family want to know why our Government is so reluctant to warn that Thialand is one of the most dangerous places on earth for its British residents 17 Britons have been murdered in Thailand since 2003
Toby Charnaud, an English expat living in the upmarket beach resort of Hua Hin, Thailand. On 27 March 2005, Charnaud was murdered in horrific circumstances. The 41-year-old was lured into the house near Hua Hin that he had bought for his Thai ex-wife, Panadda Laoruang, to live in. There, after a home-made gun failed to kill him, three men hired by Laoruang beat him to death with a heavy object. His body was partially cremated in a fire pit, cut into small pieces and scattered around a nearby forest Somsak Papai and Wisunt Samaksri were arrested in connection with Toby Charnaud's murder .On average, about 50 civilian UK nationals are murdered around the world each year This means that almost 10 per cent of all murders of Britons abroad are committed in Thailand , given that Thailand comprises only 0.6 per cent of all foreign travel from UK shores.
The murder rate is perhaps surprising; of the 420,000 annual British travellers to Thailand, a tiny percentage are the victims of crime.
Yet its dark side is quite visible. Hua Hin, where Charnaud lived and worked, is one of Thailand's most relaxed resorts, located 150 miles south of Bangkok. Long a getaway for Thai royalty, who have attracted a whole section of the Thai elite in their wake, it has a smattering of seedy bars, but the town is a picture of innocence compared with Pattaya, 150 miles north across the Gulf of Thailand. It is here that the country's less-welcome foreign visitors encounter the darker, more dangerous reaches of Thai culture; it is here that Thailand's huge sex industry has its epicentre.
At present FCO information regarding deaths in Thailand is limited. Andy Pearce, the deputy head of mission at the British Embassy in Bangkok, admits that the murder rate of Britons resident in Thailand is about the same as the domestic Thai rate – roughly five times higher than in the UK – but adds that this is only an estimate. (There are thought to be about 50,000 British resident in the country at present.) "To create the kind of advice needed on murder rates would require a greater statistical base and more research," he says.

In early 2006, just after the brutal rape and murder of the young British backpacker Katherine Horton on a deserted Koh Samui beach, and following an 18-month period in which nine Britons were murdered, the FCO had a revealing internal debate about what safety advice they should give to British nationals travelling to Thailand, as an email obtained by the BBC under the Freedom of Information Act testifies: "The trouble with [giving advice about the murder rate]... is that it would effectively highlight the number of murders over the past year or more here, which in the current circumstances could have a disproportionate impact on Thailand's reputation and legitimate commercial interests."
No amount of number-crunching by the officials at the British Embassy could have saved Charnaud. While his end was brutal, the reasons for it were never genuinely clear. "The only thing we know is that she killed him for financial reasons," says Hannah. "Som [who was sentenced to life in prison for the murder, along with three accomplices in a Thai courtroom in September 2006] thought she could get Toby's money through their son, Daniel. But she was never going to get a penny." "It has been an horrific time for us all," adds Martha, "but the family hasn't fallen apart." (Daniel is now living happily in the UK with family members.)
Yet Charnaud's family believe British officials in Thailand could have done a lot more to assist them, something that led to their local MP, James Gray, asking questions in Parliament in 2006. "In direct contrast to the Thais, who handled the whole thing very well, at every step our embassy was insensitive, ineffective and incompetent," says Hannah. "When Toby's remains were found they sent us a short email, complete with graphic details. This was done after they had spoken to the press. They offered help with DNA testing and then made that extremely difficult."

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