Swedish Expat Murdered At Luxury Villa In Phuket

[Barin]

it's pretty sad im the only person in this whole country who has noticed that 98.5% of murders and beatup in ANY major city comes from someone that is from Nakhon Sri Tammarrat ..

This is thailand's only problem, the gene pool from this province

Thank you for pointing us to the right direction.

Information from Wikipedia:

Nakhon Si Thammarat (Thai: นครศรีธรรมราช, pronounced [náʔkʰɔːn sǐː tʰammarâːt], alternative English transliteration: Nakhon Sri Thammarat from Pali Nagara Sri Dhammaraja) is a town in southern Thailand, capital of the Nakhon Si Thammarat Province and the Nakhon Si Thammarat district. It is about 610 km (380 miles) south of Bangkok, on the east coast of the Malay Peninsula. The city was the administrative center of southern Thailand during most of its history. Originally a coastal city, silting moved the coastline away from the city. The city has a much larger north to south extension than west to east, which dates back to its original location on a flood-save dune. The modern city centre around the train station is located north of Old Town.

It is one of the most ancient cities of Thailand, previously Kingdom of Ligor, and contains many buildings and ruins of historical significance. With the fall of the Siamese capital of Ayutthaya in 1767 it regained independence, but returned to its allegiance on the founding of Bangkok. In the 17th century British, Portuguese and Dutch merchants set up factories there and carried on an extensive trade.

[webfact]

UPDATE

Manhunt launched for Swedish suspect in slaying of fellow Swede

WANTED: Police believe Tommy Viktor Soderlund (pictured) is still in Phuket and

have asked the public to notify Phuket City Police at 076-212115 if they have any

information about him or the Yamaha Fino motorcycle he is believed to have stolen with license plate number &

PHUKET: -- Phuket City Police have issued an arrest warrant and appealed to the public to keep an eye out for the prime suspect in last night’s murder of Russian-born Swedish national Maxim Schantz, 25.

Manhunt launched for Swedish suspect in slaying of fellow Swede

The men are believed to have stolen and fled the scene on a Yamaha Fino motorbike with license plate number กตจ-729.

Police said initial reports by rescue workers that a gang of 12 men were responsible for the attack were incorrect.

Phuket City Police Deputy Superintendent Jumroon Playdoung told the Phuket Gazette that they are confident Soderlund is still in Phuket.

A maid at the complex told the Gazette that Soderlund signed a one-year lease on a house across the street from Mr Schantz’s yesterday morning.

“At around 8pm, Mr Schantz returned home on his motorcycle unaware that Soderlund and his ‘friend’ were hiding by his house. They attacked him and tried to strangle him with a wire, but Mr Schantz fought them off,” Col Jumroon said.

“That’s when one of them stabbed Mr Schantz in the neck. He ran away shouting ‘Help, help,’ and collapsed and died near a security guard booth,” he said.

The two suspects then fled through Soderlund’s house and over a wall onto the street where Soderlund kicked the driver off a motorcycle passing by, stole it, and fled the scene, Col Jumroon said.

The Swedish Embassy in Bangkok confirmed to the Gazette that Mr Schantz became a Swedish citizen in 2000 and lived in Gothenburg.

He had been living in Thailand for about three years, the embassy said: two years in Pattaya and one in Phuket, from where he operated IT companies he owned in Sweden.

Phuket City Police Lt Col Nanon Pitakkultorn told the Gazette that Soderlund ran an IT business in Pattaya and that there had been an ongoing quarrel over business ‘competition’.

He added that at one point Soderlund’s half-Thai girlfriend left him for Mr Schantz.

“This love triangle and/or business competition may have had something to do with this murder,” Lt Col Nanon said.

The Swedish Embassy told the Gazette this morning that Mr Schantz’s mother, who lives in Pattaya, had been notified of her son’s death and is on her way to Phuket.

-- Phuket Gazette 2011-08-02

[PoorSucker]

The suspects latest arrest in Pattaya.

http://www.pattayadailynews.com/en/2011/02/23/call-centre-gang-apprehended/

[aechzen]

wow ; viscious

wonder how / who he pissed off

maybe his farang neighbore for playing to loud music

[jackdawson]

what's up w/ these (allegedly) violent scandanavians ?

i mean , the guys in abba as well as bjorn borg look so calm and peace loving .

[peterdk]

When are these people gonna clean up their act and get their head straight. They are killing the country on a daily basis, and after my trip to Europe I did not hear any positive news about Thailand, and especially Phuket. Even in the travel agencies Thailand is no longer advertised. Where are the Thai's that we knew? Where are the real Buddhists? Where is the land of smiles, instead of this land of knives, or land of guns?

Tourism is going down on a yearly basis in Phuket, and this is now the second article in two days. Lets not kill it completely and save whatever is left to be saved... You have a piece of paradise, but its sinking away right now....

I took the liberty to check out a random website in Denmark.

That qualifies as Europe.

They have direct flights to Thailand. ( high season October to April )

They service 38 different beaches, 76 different hotels and fly passengers in and out every week.

If you are to walk into a travel agency in Europe in the summer time, Thailand is not heavily advertised.

The reason is - its summer in Europe and rainy season in Thailand.

However look up their winter catalog and you will see Thailand as the number one destination of many travel agents websites.

The land of smiles is still here.

You just have to open your eyes mate.

[sfbandung]

I live in Papua New Guinea when not in Thailand and like most poor countries very few murders are random. They are robberies gone wrong or "payback".

They left behind an Apple Computer, so not robbery. There just has to be more to this story ...

[Jimi007]

PHUKET: -- Phuket City Police have issued an arrest warrant and appealed to the public to keep an eye out for the prime suspect in last night’s murder of Russian-born Swedish national Maxim Schantz, 25.

Manhunt launched for Swedish suspect in slaying of fellow Swede

The men are believed to have stolen and fled the scene on a Yamaha Fino motorbike with license plate number กตจ-729.

Police said initial reports by rescue workers that a gang of 12 men were responsible for the attack were incorrect.

I hope all the Thai bashers apologize now.

[Orac]

... snip

I liked the statistic of 5 americans out of 100,000 being murrdered. I believe it was 5.93 out of 100,000 in Thailand.

Armed with those statistics I would still feel safer walking down any street in major cities here in Thailand than in America.

... snip

I wouldn't be too confident just yet - according to Nationmaster (admittedly it is taking figures from Wiki for this one) Thailand is ranked 3rd in the world for Firearm Homicide Rates with 33 per 100,000 ppl against 3.6 for USA.

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_gun_vio_hom_fir_hom_rat_per_100_pop-rate-per-100-000-pop

Not sure why this is totally out of whack with the previous stats but could be they are talking about conviction rates rather than actual murderers.

[F1fanatic]

PHUKET: -- Phuket City Police have issued an arrest warrant and appealed to the public to keep an eye out for the prime suspect in last night's murder of Russian-born Swedish national Maxim Schantz, 25.

Manhunt launched for Swedish suspect in slaying of fellow Swede

The men are believed to have stolen and fled the scene on a Yamaha Fino motorbike with license plate number กตจ-729.

Police said initial reports by rescue workers that a gang of 12 men were responsible for the attack were incorrect.

I hope all the Thai bashers apologize now.

Let's wait and find out what exactly went on before demanding apologies from anyone.

The change in story from a dozen Thais to 2/3 Swedes demands an open mind.

[saroq]

When are these people gonna clean up their act and get their head straight. They are killing the country on a daily basis, and after my trip to Europe I did not hear any positive news about Thailand, and especially Phuket. Even in the travel agencies Thailand is no longer advertised. Where are the Thai's that we knew? Where are the real Buddhists? Where is the land of smiles, instead of this land of knives, or land of guns?

Tourism is going down on a yearly basis in Phuket, and this is now the second article in two days. Lets not kill it completely and save whatever is left to be saved... You have a piece of paradise, but its sinking away right now....

Desperate poverty and a life that offers you very little that's not worth losing in a high risk venture to make some money of vent your frustration will make people do strange things. If you want to fix crime you have to provide real justice the economic activity that enables people to make a life for themselves that is good enough that they won't risk losing it. That's not what's happening for many Thai in the LOS.

[SteeleJoe]

Once again we have that phenomena (which I've sen in realife too but so well illustrated on TVF): the Farangs who desperately need to bash Thais and Thailand and those who defend Thais and Thailand no matter what.

Although the number of assailants seemed oddly high, I don't blame anyone for believing that Thais had murdered someone. One needn't be a Thai basher to acknowledge that murders happen here (as they do anywhere else) and not infrequently.

That doesn't mean Thais are psychopaths blah blah blah

PHUKET: -- Phuket City Police have issued an arrest warrant and appealed to the public to keep an eye out for the prime suspect in last night's murder of Russian-born Swedish national Maxim Schantz, 25.

Manhunt launched for Swedish suspect in slaying of fellow Swede

The men are believed to have stolen and fled the scene on a Yamaha Fino motorbike with license plate number กตจ-729.

Police said initial reports by rescue workers that a gang of 12 men were responsible for the attack were incorrect.

I hope all the Thai bashers apologize now.

Let's wait and find out what exactly went on before demanding apologies from anyone.

The change in story from a dozen Thais to 2/3 Swedes demands an open mind.

The change demands it? How about, as a general rule, an open mind from the beginning (ie before the facts are in)? (Or is that only appropriate when Thais aren't being accused?)

[F1fanatic]

Once again we have that phenomena (which I've sen in realife too but so well illustrated on TVF): the Farangs who desperately need to bash Thais and Thailand and those who defend Thais and Thailand no matter what.

Although the number of assailants seemed oddly high, I don't blame anyone for believing that Thais had murdered someone. One needn't be a Thai basher to acknowledge that murders happen here (as they do anywhere else) and not infrequently.

That doesn't mean Thais are psychopaths blah blah blah

PHUKET: -- Phuket City Police have issued an arrest warrant and appealed to the public to keep an eye out for the prime suspect in last night's murder of Russian-born Swedish national Maxim Schantz, 25.

Manhunt launched for Swedish suspect in slaying of fellow Swede

The men are believed to have stolen and fled the scene on a Yamaha Fino motorbike with license plate number กตจ-729.

Police said initial reports by rescue workers that a gang of 12 men were responsible for the attack were incorrect.

I hope all the Thai bashers apologize now.

Let's wait and find out what exactly went on before demanding apologies from anyone.

The change in story from a dozen Thais to 2/3 Swedes demands an open mind.

The change demands it? How about, as a general rule, an open mind from the beginning (ie before the facts are in)? (Or is that only appropriate when Thais aren't being accused?)

No. I have the same open mind when reading about farang suicides.

[Barin]

Where are the Thai's that we knew? Where are the real Buddhists? Where is the land of smiles, instead of this land of knives, or land of guns?

Get far away from the tourist areas like Phuket and Pattaya.

Living in the North or the North East of Thailand is much safer.

The real Buddhists nowdays tend to be concentrated mostly in the North and the North East of Thailand.

[DP25]

... snip

I liked the statistic of 5 americans out of 100,000 being murrdered. I believe it was 5.93 out of 100,000 in Thailand.

Armed with those statistics I would still feel safer walking down any street in major cities here in Thailand than in America.

... snip

I wouldn't be too confident just yet - according to Nationmaster (admittedly it is taking figures from Wiki for this one) Thailand is ranked 3rd in the world for Firearm Homicide Rates with 33 per 100,000 ppl against 3.6 for USA.

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_gun_vio_hom_fir_hom_rat_per_100_pop-rate-per-100-000-pop

Not sure why this is totally out of whack with the previous stats but could be they are talking about conviction rates rather than actual murderers.

It's totally out of whack because that Nationmaster statistic is 100% WRONG. Someone translated gun CRIME as gun MURDER, so are reporting the total number of hand guns confiscated by the police as gun MURDERS. There are roughly 4,000 murders per year in Thailand, with no statistics on what weapon is used. Not 20,000 gun murders per year as Nationmaster reports, that is how many illegal guns they confiscate each year. You can see the yearly statistics on the Thai police website

[SteeleJoe]

No. I have the same open mind when reading about farang suicides.

Point taken. And just what I expected from you:

Thais accused? OK. No need for an open mind. Thais not accused? Kkeep an open mind to the possibility that it is was Thais.

[F1fanatic]

No. I have the same open mind when reading about farang suicides.

Point taken. And just what I expected from you:

Thais accused? OK. No need for an open mind. Thais not accused? Kkeep an open mind to the possibility that it is was Thais.

Before getting rudely personal, let's just wait and see how this story unfolds.

[aechzen]

With 12 men, they can blame each other, and in the end, nobody will go to jail. The Men in Brown will probably find that the foreigner stole the knife from one of the 12 and slashed himself.

yes you are in thailand

[JamesMemphis]

This is a great idea. There needs to be a face book/twitter/ site.Thailand murders & deaths site. The world needs to know. They need to know most importantly that you will be on your own and most of the police will not help you. Tourist have a false sense of security. I do know most Thai people I have met are good people and I appreciate them very much. However in Phuket and Pattaya it seems the police and the mafia are one in the same. These places need to be a " NO GO ZONE"...

RIP. Young man. Let the world know.

[cdnvic]

I removed a swath of posts from people who reacted to the first post without reading any follow-up.

Please stop the personal arguments, it's derailing the topic.

[suppaman]

The change demands it? How about, as a general rule, an open mind from the beginning (ie before the facts are in)? (Or is that only appropriate when Thais aren't being accused?)

No. I have the same open mind when reading about farang suicides.

While we wait for the next news about this case, can you tell us your thoughts about it? It could be helpful for us to open up our minds....

[SteeleJoe]

How the story unfolds will not change anyone's previous comments or their meaning. Nor does it change the fact that they simply could not be more in character with a 100% consistent and extreme bias.

Whether it turns out that Thais did it or Farang(s), I won't be the least surprised nor will it contradict anything I've said.

Edited August 2, 2011 by SteeleJoe

[F1fanatic]

The change demands it? How about, as a general rule, an open mind from the beginning (ie before the facts are in)? (Or is that only appropriate when Thais aren't being accused?)

No. I have the same open mind when reading about farang suicides.

While we wait for the next news about this case, can you tell us your thoughts about it? It could be helpful for us to open up our minds....

I did - a couple of pages ago....

[F1fanatic]

How the story unfolds will not change anyone's previous comments or their meaning. Nor does it change the fact that they simply could not be more in character with a 100% consistent and extreme bias.

Whether it turns out that Thais did it or Farang(s), I won't be the least surprised nor will it contradict anything I've said.

Same here .

Edit - plus, I haven't attacked any of your posts. Try reading the thread before latching on to one post and mis-reading it.

Edited August 2, 2011 by F1fanatic

[suppaman]

Who or what is PW? How did a reporter manage to get to the scene 25 mins after the murder? Where did the original report of 12 Thai men come from? How do the police know it was 2 Swedish men?

At the moment, more questions than answers.

ehm...is this the post you was talking about? Why, where, how ? Ok.

[Deez]

Homocide stats from wikipedia:

USA - 5 murders per 100,000 people per year

Thailand - 5.9 murders per 100,000 people per year

Considering Thailand is a third-world country, with living costs to match, things really aren't as bad as they are portrayed - thaivisa reports every single farang murder (as it should).

Why do so many farang killings happen in Phuket and Pattaya? Because that is where a large percentage of Thailand's expats live. There is also more money in these areas, which inevitably leads to crime and corruption.

Your stats dont include the high number of "suicides" which are murders the police have no interest in looking into

[Pulle]

Here we go again!

Very good for the Thai image and tourism.

Each will tell his side of the story , but where will that end?

Someone must be right and someone must be wrong , very said if it's happens to you.

But what 's the real story behind that all?

Woman, drugs, drinking, jealousy,gambling,....?

Being normal seems tobe very difficult thes days!

[khunJeroen]

I do not see why appologize, it is mine opinion and just read the news papers. Nothing to do with talking negatively.

[SiamWallaby]

With 12 men, they can blame each other, and in the end, nobody will go to jail. The Men in Brown will probably find that the foreigner stole the knife from one of the 12 and slashed himself.

lol sad but true.. TIT

[cdnvic]

With 12 men, they can blame each other, and in the end, nobody will go to jail. The Men in Brown will probably find that the foreigner stole the knife from one of the 12 and slashed himself.

lol sad but true.. TIT

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