Bangladeshi murdered by gangsters

PHUKET TOWN: A Bangladeshi man was murdered on Monday near the Ta & Yai restaurant on Soi Taringchan, allegedly by a member of a Burmese gang. Pol Maj Pissanu Poonwongs of the Phuket Town Police Station told the Gazette that officers received a phone call yesterday around 3 pm, informing them that somebody had been murdered next to the restaurant. The victim was found dead from two stab wounds, one at the base of an ear, and the other near his collarbone. Police said that the wounds were inflicted by a 10-inch screwdriver. They suspect that the victim died instantly at the scene. Mrs Hazina Huzen, the 38-year-old wife of the victim, identified the body of her husband, 36-year-old Abdulberzi Huzen. She told police that the couple had been making a living selling Indian foods. About a week earlier, she said, three Burmese men whom she knew had come to her house with four other men. The gang, led by a man she identified as “Hamiz”, demanded that her husband pay protection money. After her husband said that he did not have the money, the men told him to come up with the money within a week, when they would return to pick it up. Because of this, Mrs Hazina said, her husband had stayed away from the house in the evenings. When the gang returned one week later and found that her husband was not home, they went to search for him. After finding him hiding at the Yamia Mosque, about 300 meters from where his body was eventually found, the gang again demanded that he pay the money. Mr Huzen refused, and started walking towards home. Hamiz caught up with him, stabbed him, and then fled on a white motorcycle. After receiving this information, Maj Pissanu said that he instructed officers to search the area. They soon found the three Burmese described by Mrs Huzen and brought them in for questioning. Mrs Huzen identified them as being involved in the incident and they were charged with murder. They were denied bail. Police are still searching for the other four suspects. Maj Pissanu said that some Burmese gangs prey on other illegal immigrants, threatening to make trouble for them if they don’t pay protection money.