Final Suspect Arrested in Murder of Thai-Cambodian Tycoon ‘Sia Auan’ in Sa Kaeo

Picture courtesy of Matichon.

Police have arrested the final suspect in the high-profile 2013 kidnapping and murder case of “Sia Auan”, a prominent Thai-Cambodian businessman. The suspect, Mr. Amnat “Buakhao” Changmuenwai 51, was apprehended in Nakhon Ratchasima after over a decade on the run.

The arrest was carried out under the orders of Pol. Lt. Gen. Jiraphop Phuridech, Commissioner of the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB), and executed by a team led by Pol. Maj. Gen. Wittaya Sriprasertphap and senior officers from the Crime Suppression Division.

Mr. Amnat was wanted under an arrest warrant issued by the Sa Kaeo Provincial Court in 2013 on multiple serious charges, including:

• Concealing, relocating or destroying a corpse

• Unlawful detention resulting in death

• Armed robbery causing death while impersonating a police officer and using a vehicle to commit the crime

The case dates back to 1 July 2013, when Mr. Chaiyanat Mai-ngan 67, known locally as “Sia Auan” , a powerful cross-border businessman and owner of Songprom Song Paendin Co., which specialised in Thai-Cambodian trade, was kidnapped, murdered and his body burned in Wattana Nakhon district, Sa Kaeo.

Mr. Amnat was identified as a close associate of Pol. Lt. Col. Pansak Mongkonsilp, a former Pranchinburi police officer infamous under the alias “The Jade-Faced Hitman.” Pansak had previously been convicted in a separate double murder case involving a mother and daughter from the Srithanakhan family.

Police believe the group accepted a contract to eliminate Sia Auan due to a financial dispute linked to business dealings in the bustling Rong Kluea market near the Thai-Cambodian border.

Four other suspects, including Pansak, were arrested in the years following the murder. Mr. Amnat had remained at large until officers tracked him to a rented room in Kok Sung subdistrict, Nakhon Ratchasima, his hometown and took him into custody without incident.

During questioning, the suspect partially denied the charges, claiming he had merely accompanied the group to “collect a debt” and had no knowledge of any murder or attempt to destroy the body.

He has since been transferred to Klong Luek Police Station in Sa Kaeo province, where he faces full legal proceedings.

Authorities now consider the case closed with all identified perpetrators in custody.

  Adapted by Asean Now from Amarin 2025-07-18