Police move scavengers to safety as they hunt for killer

In a pre-dawn operation, Pathum Thani police chief Maj-General Thaworn Khaosa-ard and Pratunam Chulalongkorn police officers as well as officials from agencies including Thanyaburi Highway District, Nakhon Rangsit Municipality and soldiers, rounded up the scavengers.
Rungthiwa Suddaen, director of the Pathum Thani Social Development and Human Security Office, said people with houses in other provinces would be sent back to their home towns, while those with no place to go would be sent to the Shelter for Homeless Men and the Shelter for Homeless Women, where they would receive care and vocational training.
She said the office would contact the provincial employment authority to find them suitable jobs when their physical and mental health was good and they were equipped with some working skills.
The operation came after the mutilated bodies of three scavengers – two males and one female – were discovered this week with their hands tied behind their backs.
Sathien Sornchai, 48, was found under the Don Muang Tollway in tambon Prachathipat in Thanyaburi district on Thursday morning. His body was discovered in the same neighbourhood where the bodies of two other scavengers – Supakorn Khokkran, 25, and Supapan Khongyoodee, 38 – were found on Tuesday.
Scavenger Sak Pholyingsong, 49, a father of two, said the murders shook the community. He said he was so afraid that he would only scavenge during the day and urged police to catch the killer as soon as possible.
A female scavenger named only as Thongkham urged people to scavenge only during the day as it was reported that the three victims were attacked during the night time.
Maj-General Amnat Chancharoen, Provincial Police Region 1’s case investigation commander, said police would release surveillance video of the route where the prime suspect rode his bicycle. Police asked witnesses to contact 02-959-2307 or 085-235-0072.
Police also interviewed some scavengers who claimed to have seen the wanted man.
One scavenger whose name was withheld said he saw the suspect a few times before the man’s Monday row with Supakorn during a drinking session. He said the man liked to sit and drink alcohol in the area under the tollway and might not be a Thai.
As well as scavengers in the area, people living in the neighbourhood are also afraid.
Motorcycle-taxi driver Wanlop Cheunphasuk, 45, said he was more paranoid when taking passengers at night and was worried for his family, including his son who studied at a school only 500 metres from the scene.