PATONG (PHUKET): A Singapore woman has confessed to ordering the killing of a Canadian property developer in Phuket, the Thai tourist hot spot, according to police here.

Diana Goh Li Fun, 32, claimed that Francis Alex Degioanni, whom she had known for a number of years, was killed because he refused to repay several million baht in personal loans.

Goh had apparently borrowed the money from a friend in Singapore and was saddled with monthly interest payments of around 100,000 baht (S$4,300) but Mr Degioanni refused to repay his loan because he said they had no written contract, police quoted her as saying.

Mr Degioanni was sitting in his black Toyota pickup outside his Patong Beach condominium complex on Feb 19 when he was shot eight times with .38 calibre pistols by two men on a motorcycle.

Goh and five other people, including the two alleged shooters, have been arrested in connection with the case.

Police named the alleged gunmen as Somchai Mingjaiyen, 29, and Suwan Simet, 32. Somchai was described as a contract killer who had an unexplained deposit of 400,000 baht in his bank account.

Two others nabbed - Sumon Sumen, 39, and Netnapa Witayatamsopon, 37, - were described as friends of Goh. Sumon allegedly helped plan the murder, putting funds in a bank account for the gunmen while Netnapa helped find the gunmen.

The sixth suspect, Eakapon Lakrod, 35, a friend of Sumon's, allegedly helped in the killing by observing Mr Degioanni's routine and then deciding on the place and method of 'execution'.

Police are still looking for two other suspects, one of whom rode the motorcycle on which the two killers escaped and the other who rented the bike.

Dressed in a pink shirt with black stripes, Goh tried to conceal her identity at a news conference on Friday by brushing her hair over her face but raised her hand when told to identify herself.

Police said they cracked the case after officers sifting through resort and hotel records came across the four men who had booked into a hotel between Feb 15 and Feb 20 near Simon Cabaret in Patong, not far from the murder scene.

Mr Degioanni's wife, who was at the scene of the crime, had also identified photographs of the two men who had allegedly strolled up before opening fire on her husband.