Japanese Tourist Shot Dead In Chiang Rai By Thai Tour Guide

[BOS2BKK 52]

I doubt there is a lot of opium being grown in that area now. Besides, it seems to be rather out of the way of transhipment points (i.e. between Myanmar and Thailand).

^^^^^ Right there, that is where you said it ^^^^^^ This is obviously not correct, because a major shipment of Meth being smuggled by Burmese was busted in Chiang Rai that same day. So I guess the smugglers don't think it is too far out of their way.

As for where I get my intel

I am an armchair expert drunken retiree who thinks the view from his Condo balcony in Pattaya/Chiang Mai is all of Thailand, so I just make it up, like every other poster right? Sometimes I am not at all surprised why people get thrown off balconies as often as they do here. I would love to take a ride in your Helicopter some time. Let me know the details so I can let it out.

[sunholidaysun1 97]

I doubt there is a lot of opium being grown in that area now. Besides, it seems to be rather out of the way of transhipment points (i.e. between Myanmar and Thailand).

^^^^^ Right there, that is where you said it ^^^^^^ This is obviously not correct, because a major shipment of Meth being smuggled by Burmese was busted in Chiang Rai that same day. So I guess the smugglers don't think it is too far out of their way.

As for where I get my intel

I am an armchair expert drunken retiree who thinks the view from his Condo balcony in Pattaya/Chiang Mai is all of Thailand, so I just make it up, like every other poster right? Sometimes I am not at all surprised why people get thrown off balconies as often as they do here. I would love to take a ride in your Helicopter some time. Let me know the details so I can let it out.

Dont bring my Helicopter into your story .

[stevehoward1969 0]

This is not CM or Pattaya. This is CR. We dont rent condos we build houses and sit on our balconies, sip our drinks, relax and think to ourselves ~ "I wonder how officer crackheads life is going"

[KimoMax 118]

The tour guide has tats too. He is a gangster too, for sure.

WOW , what can one say about this.

In Thai culture, unless it is a religious tattoo (like the Muay Thai boxers, and the monks have) - traditionally that person is a "black" person and involved in crime or is chained to the wheels of crime. you will notice a lot of girls in Sukhumvit have tattoos too, there is a reason for it. it is an indication of their social status and their occupation. Not always correct, but a good guideline.

ACtually, you are presenting a broad stereotype that is no longer socially valid.

Most Tats are only artistry or a self expression. Some historically have certain meanings in culture.

There are also Certain Tattoo's that have a signficant meaning in the criminal world.

Lot's of the tattoo artists are aware of what they should not tattoo on an unsuspecting person.

Wearing one of those Tats could mean serious trouble for the wearer.

[toybits 1,996]

Yes! You are an armchair expert and for your sake stop making a fool of yourself and please learn how to read.

You do not even know where this Japanese Tourist was shot. I have been to that area many times on bike rides with some buddies. I also know where the Thai-Myanmar Border is. It makes no sense to bring crystal meth, opium or heroin through that village where the Japanese Tourist was shot.

[Paul888 315]

Is there must be some kind of award or prize for "knowing the most about drug production and transportation routes"?

[harrry 4,906]

Must be careful next time I go to Don's cafe....Never know who is doing what round there.

[sunholidaysun1 97]

Must be careful next time I go to Don's cafe....Never know who is doing what round there.

Maybe they were booking tables for the BBQ or maybe they had been told about the Lines being offered at a reduced price

[harrry 4,906]

Must be careful next time I go to Don's cafe....Never know who is doing what round there.

Maybe they were booking tables for the BBQ or maybe they had been told about the Lines being offered at a reduced price

Probably they got upset because they were too late to get the good bits of steak because the guide came late and got lost.

[pbeieio 159]

This news was all over Japanese media since yesterday, but none of it said the victim was a yakuza.

Only a complete ignoramus would purport that a high ranking member of the Yakuza would visit Thailand, on a risky mission, to score 2kg’s of Meth/Speed from Burmese suppliers.

It smells like a drug deal gone sour, and the Thai police’s attempts to discredit the victims does not justify the actions of the “tour guide”, it just creates more questions as to their own complicity.

Tourists vote with their feet. Another “nail in the coffin”

In spite of the TAT’s increased advertising to promote Thailand as a “tourist paradise”, incidents like this, combined with the myriad of other offences committed (to tourists) and the increased reporting of said diminish Thailand’s appeal.

I wonder when the Thai’s will wake up?

　

　

　

[pbeieio 159]

So the tour guide had the gun in order to 'defend tourists'! Is that normal practice for tour guides I wonder? As for the deceased being yakuza, I'd love to know how that conclusion was arrived at, perhaps he wrote it on his arrival/departure card under occupation.

Go back and read the article...and also look at the yakuza tattoos on the dead man's body. Only Yakuza have tats like that. Yakuza.

A deceased Japanese with a lot of Tats does not make a Yakuza! Until the police from Japan, who actually know something about the Yakuza say different!

[Buchholz 2,952]

Japanese 'gangster' shot dead in Thailand: police

BANGKOK, April 27, 2011 (AFP) - A Japanese alleged yakuza gangster was shot dead in northern Thailand by a local tourist guide in suspicious circumstances, Thai police said Wednesday.

The 44-year-old was shot twice in the head and torso in a mountainous area 30 kilometres (19 miles) from the city of Chiang Rai late Tuesday, Major General Adis Ngamchitsuksri, commander of the Thai Tourist Police, told AFP.

Adis said a Thai tourist guide named as Apichart Inthisak, 41, had surrendered and confessed to shooting the man, saying they had quarrelled during a trip to see hilltribes in the area.

"But police are not fully convinced of the motive given by the suspect. We think that there may be another motive behind this killing," he added.

A second 59-year-old Japanese man sustained serious injuries from gunshot wounds.

Apichart, a native of Chiang Rai, told police that the two Japanese were upset that he was one hour late to pick up them up from their guesthouse.

He said they later argued and a gunfight ensued.

"The suspect said he had to carry a gun to protect tourists," Adis said.

Adis said he was told by the Japanese embassy in Bangkok that the victim was a prominent yakuza gangster in Tokyo linked to the Yamaguchi-gumi organisation. The embassy did not confirm that information when contacted by AFP.

a related follow-up... and a name correction for the victim from the OP...

Yakuza 'Employer Liability' Murder Suit Ends with a Settlement

TOKYO — Tadamasa Goto, former boss of the Yamaguchi-gumi Goto-gumi crime group, has agreed to pay ¥110 million, or $1.4 million, to settle the lawsuit filed by the family of Kazuoki Nozaki, who was murdered by members of the organization in 2006. That's a little less than the ¥187 million of damages specified in the family original suit. But they got something in return: according to those involved with the lawsuit, at one point in the negotiations, Goto and the Yamaguchi-gumi organization, offered to pay the full amount requested in the lawsuit, but in the final negotiations, only Goto ended up paying, with the provision that he express his condolences. In Japan, an apology is worth quite a lot.

Although there was no admission of collusion in the murder, the settlement with the Nozaki family settlement may rekindle the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s long-running investigation into Tadamasa Goto for the murder of Nozaki and Goto’s former lieutenant, Takashi Kondo. Kondo was shot to death in Thailand in April last year, after an international arrest warrant had been issued on charges related to Nozaki's murder.

It was alleged by former Goto-gumi members that Goto had ordered Kondo to make the hit but never proven. And likely never to be proven because as the Japanese saying goes, 死人に口無し, or dead men have no mouths.

Continued:

http://www.theatlant...ttlement/57617/

The Atlantic Wire - Oct. 5, 2012

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[ThailandBert 222]

maybe the tourist guide was big Thai tour guide Mafia so isn't worried about a little small time Yakuza plastic gangster. There seems to be a Mafia for every other occupation here in Thailand.

There is a lot more to this story than has come out up to now.

[Petruchio 4]

Prediction: The "offended" Thai murderer (self defense only according to him in spite of what the other Japanese says) will walk for the murder, be given a pass on unjustifiably carrying a firearm, likely acquired without permit - we will never know for sure, on a tourist trip, jungle or not, be lauded as macho by the police - and be looking over his shoulder for the rest of his miserable life. As a general thing, I like and admire most Thai people but I will not be an apologizer for them. An argument never justifies murder, not even if the Thai knows that in Thailand he will likely get away with it if there is a Farang involved. P. S. I like guns a lot. God made all men different. Sam Colt made them all equal. In a country with universal access without harrassment (such as Switzerland) we see a country of gentlemen and little crime.

[Tomtomtom69 1,758]

If the guy was really Yakuza, I have a feeling this is going to end badly for a few Thai people.

Doubtful - it would be 1 Japanese against 100 Thais - the Thais would win. This is their country.