Migrant suspect for murders
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WORKERS QUESTIONED AFTER MAN SEEN ON SURVEILLANCE CAMERA
A MIGRANT based on Koh Tao in Surat Thani province, who was seen on surveillance-camera footage, is suspected of being involved in the killing of two British tourists on the resort-island on Sunday, deputy national police chief Pol-General Somyot Poompanmueng said yesterday.
The suspect is seen in the footage walking around the scene of the murders, on Chor Por Ror beach.
Somyot said it was assumed that the killer or killers would be local residents or migrant workers, as they would know where to acquire the murder weapon – a hoe.
He said Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha had phoned him to directly instruct him to identify and arrest those responsible as a matter of utmost urgency.
The bodies of Hannah Victoria Witheridge and David William Miller, both 24 and British citizens, were expected to arrive in Bangkok yesterday evening, prior to autopsies at the Police General Hospital.
Prayuth spoke to reporters at Government House, acknowledging that the murders had affected Thailand and its public image in terms of tourism, and that he would ask the police to speed up the investigation.
Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan said later that three migrants had been apprehended as suspects, and that he had urged Somyot to closely pursue the double-murder case.
Police sources said that police had found a pair of blood-stained jeans and four iPhones – two of which had screens that were cracked – in a search of nine rooms occupied by six migrant workers. This was part of a blanket search of the area conducted yesterday.
The six migrants were questioned and had DNA samples collected. No details given as to whether they include the man cited by Somyot or the three cited by Prawit.
A special team of police, including senior Phuket-based investigator Pol-General Santichai Niramai, who is known for his experience in tourism-related criminal investigations, has been set up to help probe the murders.
Pol Maj-General Phornchai Sutheerakhun, head of the police’s Institute of Forensic Medicine, said the victims’ bodies were expected to arrive at the institute yesterday.
The general condition of the bodies would be ascertained in the initial stage of the autopsy, but further examination of complex substances would take time, he explained.
A police source said none of the suspects had been taken to Bangkok, as cited in various news reports, and no charges had been filed against anyone.
Another source dismissed reports about the chief of Koh Pha-ngan – whose jurisdiction covers Koh Tao – being transferred as a result of the murders.
Meanwhile, the regional Tourism Authority office tasked with affairs in Europe, Africa and the Middle East issued a statement to the press in the United Kingdom expressing sorrow over the double-murder and |condemning the violence as unacceptable, while vowing to maintain efforts to identify and arrest the killers.
Thanes Phetsuwan, who heads up the office, said there had as yet been no negative reaction suggesting that UK residents should not travel to Thailand.
Piyaman Techapaibul, chairwoman of the Tourism Council |of Thailand, expressed sorrow over the murders, which she said were bound to affect tourism.
