Police are gearing up to seek arrest warrants for the main suspects in the mass murder of a village headman and his family members in Ao Luk district of Krabi.
Warrants are likely to be issued Wednesday, and a raft of serious charges will follow, sources said.
Surikfat Bannopwongsakul, aka Bang Fath, is among eight accused of shooting dead eight victims, including three children.
The suspects have been detained at the 15th Infantry Battalion in Klong Thom district. Section 44 of the interim charter allowed security officials to detain them without a warrant for seven days.
The suspects are Mr Surikfat, Chalita Sangkhachot, Prachak Bunthoi, Khomsan Wiangwiangnon, Abdullo Dolo, Thawatchai Bunkhong, Arun Thongkham and Thanachai Chamnong.
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Police will press six charges against the suspects, of premeditated murder, attempted murder, conducting criminal association, false imprisonment, illegal possession of firearms and robbery.
Mr Surikfat: Chief suspect as mastermind
Four to five people, including those who provided a car and guns to the suspects, will be also face arrest warrants, the sources said.
According to investigators, Mr Surikfat, a loan shark operator, is believed to have cheated the father-in-law of the killed village headman Worayut Sanglang, by luring him to transfer land title deeds to him before he used the land plots as collateral to borrow 4.3 million baht from a bank.
Land authorities confirmed ownership of the plots was transferred to Mr Surikfat despite the fact Worayut's father-in-law insisted they never sold the land plots to the suspect.
The Ao Luk District Land Office insisted Tuesday that based on documents, ownership of all plots of land used by Mr Surikfat to guarantee his 4.3 million baht bank loan were transferred to Mr Surikfat. It has a record that Worayut's father-in-law sold the land to Mr Surikfat.
Narongsak Kruehong, an officer with the Ao Luk district Land Office, said all 12 plots of land, 10 with standard title deeds and two with Nor Sor 3 deeds, were mortgaged with a Bangkok Bank branch after they were recorded as sold to the murder suspect.
"Each time the buyer and the seller handled the purchase and sale agreements at our office, our officers did ask them questions and kept them on the record. But it's impossible for us to know if the land seller was deceived into transferring the land to the buyer," Mr Narongsak said.
Police said the 41-year-old murder suspect is believed to have lured Worayut's father-in-law into signing land selling documents without his being fully aware of what he was doing. The father-in-law thought he was signing a mortgage agreement.
When Worayut became aware of what was happening, he planned to bring a lawsuit against Mr Surikfat. The dispute is believed to have triggered the massacre.
Jaree Butterb, Worayut's father-in-law, said he never sold the land to Mr Surikfat.
He just pledged the land documents to borrow 750,000 baht from the suspect and had repaid all debts to him.
He became aware of the swindle when bank officials came to take photos of his house and told him the land plots and house were pledged for a bank loan.
Mr Surikfat told police investigators he only aimed to abduct Worayut so he could negotiate with him over their dispute about the land plots but the abduction went seriously awry.
