Tom Armstrong search: Thailand trip for missing man's father

The father of a Suffolk man who has been missing in Thailand for nearly a month is flying out to the country on Sunday to try to find him.

Tom Armstrong, 22, from Kelsale near Saxmundham, had been due to arrive at Heathrow from Bangkok airport on 9 January but did not catch the flight.

Father Kingsley Armstrong said: "I've had a lot of help from parents who've been through a similar sort of thing.

newsjs"We're fairly certain now that he's in a specific area within Bangkok."

Tom Armstrong has been in Thailand since last April and had been living on the island of Koh Tao for a diving course.

He was last in contact with his family via email on 6 January, when he told them of his flight plans home.

Since his disappearance, money has been withdrawn from his bank account in Bangkok.

Full Story: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-21308169

-- BBC 2013-02-03

Wishing Mr. Armstrong luck on his search for his son. Mr. Armstong appears to be aware that "money has been withdrawn from his bank account since his disappearance in Thailand." Mr. Armstong would be well served to follow the money on an expedition like this in Thailand. It should be straight forward to track down the nature of those withdrawals. If they were ATMs, the bank should have time and date and the surveillance cameras would show who actually withdrew the money. This assumes that Mr. Armstrong will have the cooperation and support of Thai authorities and banks. We'll be interested to follow the newspaper reports of Tom Armstrong's whereabouts.

Wishing Mr. Armstrong luck on his search for his son. Mr. Armstong appears to be aware that "money has been withdrawn from his bank account since his disappearance in Thailand." Mr. Armstong would be well served to follow the money on an expedition like this in Thailand. It should be straight forward to track down the nature of those withdrawals. If they were ATMs, the bank should have time and date and the surveillance cameras would show who actually withdrew the money. This assumes that Mr. Armstrong will have the cooperation and support of Thai authorities and banks. We'll be interested to follow the newspaper reports of Tom Armstrong's whereabouts.

I hope this all ends well.

Hope this works out well, awful for the family and friends.

Interesting that they seem to think he is in a specific part of BKK, hope that is a positive part of it, and that it's more a case of him laying low, as opposed to something bad happening.

Smells like this young man has been terribly snubbed-ripped-off-kidnapped by the scuba diver's and corrupt police community.

Foreign families have often run up against incompetence and intransigience and even cover-ups whilst trying to find out what happened to their loved ones in Thailand. It is worth considering hiring a detective if this occurs.

Smells like this young man has been terribly snubbed-ripped-off-kidnapped by the scuba diver's and corrupt police community.

what a negative response.

from the OP it seems he was staying in BKK prior to catching his flight home and confirmed he would be travelling as planned to his family, then suddenly nothing, I'm pretty sure this young man would have informed his family if his plans had changed so one would have to assume he is missing.

The British embassey should be on this case and should have already engaged the police, the fact his ATM card has been used would go a long way to explain the mystery through CCTV footage at the locations used, don't know how long they keep recordings but wouldn't want to leave it too long, you might also assume his ATM card was used by himself unless he was stupid enough to perhaps share the number to a girlfriend, if so then all bets are off and I would be fearing the worst, hope this all works out but I have a feeling it won't.

If posters want to help find this young man and you have facebook accounts there is a Tom Armstrong page with photographs - share it will all your facebook friends - the more people looking for him the better

........... This assumes that Mr. Armstrong will have the cooperation and support of Thai authorities and banks. ..........

Hope he gets that.

Thoughts and wishes with the family and for young Tom.

Smells like this young man has been terribly snubbed-ripped-off-kidnapped by the scuba diver's and corrupt police community.

the scuba divers community? really?

not sure about koh tao or the rest of Thailand, but the dive community i know in koh phangan would bend over backwards to help, not harm.

Hope he is found shacked up with a cute bar girl....... But I suspect that is not the case...

Maybe he just decided he wanted to stay a while longer. He's been here since April last year, so he's not exactly naieve.

Why post conjecture, when we know nothing? It's all an open abyss at this moment in time.

-mel.

I have been advising the Armstrongs and their representatives for a little while now. Thank you, ThaiVisa, for your continuing coverage of Tom Armstrong's situation, and to the community for its interest in getting Tom found. Obviously I can't say more than the family has chosen to post on Facebook or disclose to the press, not without their permission. I'd just ask all interested TV members to keep in mind that not all missing persons cases are cut from the same cloth, nor do all the particulars make it into print.

Wishing Mr. Armstrong luck on his search for his son. Mr. Armstong appears to be aware that "money has been withdrawn from his bank account since his disappearance in Thailand." Mr. Armstong would be well served to follow the money on an expedition like this in Thailand. It should be straight forward to track down the nature of those withdrawals. If they were ATMs, the bank should have time and date and the surveillance cameras would show who actually withdrew the money. This assumes that Mr. Armstrong will have the cooperation and support of Thai authorities and banks. We'll be interested to follow the newspaper reports of Tom Armstrong's whereabouts.

The family has already obtained some ATM withdrawal locations and these have been posted to the Missing Tom Armstrong Facebook page. The amounts are not being disclosed at this time however I can say that they are not sums that would immediately cause alarm were one prone to envision worst-case scenarios.

CCTV footage whether from ATM cameras or neighboring businesses is a more involved undertaking, but it is a priority.

If posters want to help find this young man and you have facebook accounts there is a Tom Armstrong page with photographs - share it will all your facebook friends - the more people looking for him the better

Indeed and I hope it's alright to note that the Missing Tom Armstrong Facebook page is linked from the original BBC article. Please read it, Like and Share it. Increased public awareness is a very good thing.

If you see Tom, please note the following: When did you see him? Where did you see him? Which way did he go? Who was he with? How did he look? Then communicate this to his family via the Missing Tom Armstrong page, or directly to his father, Kingsley, or his mother Helen, via their Facebook accounts.

Smells like this young man has been terribly snubbed-ripped-off-kidnapped by the scuba diver's and corrupt police community.

the scuba divers community? really?

not sure about koh tao or the rest of Thailand, but the dive community i know in koh phangan would bend over backwards to help, not harm.

The Koh Tao dive community is very clued-in to the situation.

https://www.facebook.com/MissingTomArmstrong

RAZZ

DDA great job and here to help if I can.

Everyone using Facebook in Thailand share this link, the expat World out here is pretty connected, shouldn't be that hard to locate this lad for his parents.

https://www.facebook.com/MissingTomArmstrong?fref=ts

Smells like this young man has been terribly snubbed-ripped-off-kidnapped by the scuba diver's and corrupt police community.

what a negative response.

Worse than negative - totally unfounded. More like trolling. Absolute praatt.

I have been advising the Armstrongs and their representatives for a little while now. Thank you, ThaiVisa, for your continuing coverage of Tom Armstrong's situation, and to the community for its interest in getting Tom found. Obviously I can't say more than the family has chosen to post on Facebook or disclose to the press, not without their permission. I'd just ask all interested TV members to keep in mind that not all missing persons cases are cut from the same cloth, nor do all the particulars make it into print.

Thank you for a realistic and well informed update. Please keep us posted and good luck

Smells like this young man has been terribly snubbed-ripped-off-kidnapped by the scuba diver's and corrupt police community.

You are an idiot and insensitive to the family!!

How can you say this. What evidence do you have for such a ridiculous post. There has been no ransom demand and he still had money in his bank account.

Also, all withdraws from the ATM have been in bangkok nowhere close to the dive shop. If they kidnapped him they would demand a ransom or make him go to the bank every day to withdraw money not wait 2-3 weeks between ATM withdraws. If he was snubbed as you say, then they would most likely not have the info for his bank card.

Either you are stupid or a troll, either way go crawl back under the rock you came from!!

Smells like this young man has been terribly snubbed-ripped-off-kidnapped by the scuba diver's and corrupt police community.

You are an idiot and insensitive to the family!!

How can you say this. What evidence do you have for such a ridiculous post. There has been no ransom demand and he still had money in his bank account.

Also, all withdraws from the ATM have been in bangkok nowhere close to the dive shop. If they kidnapped him they would demand a ransom or make him go to the bank every day to withdraw money not wait 2-3 weeks between ATM withdraws. If he was snubbed as you say, then they would most likely not have the info for his bank card.

Either you are stupid or a troll, either way go crawl back under the rock you came from!!

Yes go back under your rock

hopefully he's in love and shacked up and don't want to go home! happened a million times in thailand!

It will take him some time but eventually he will find him in one of the many prisons, he will need tohave the money ready and everything will be ok.

Smells like this young man has been terribly snubbed-ripped-off-kidnapped by the scuba diver's and corrupt police community.

I presume you are joking. but this is not a funny subject. I am serious about my post above and really beleive he will be found in prison, as the police are each receiving 500 baht for every drug related arrest made. I am not sugesting this young man is a drug adict BUT a very high percentage of young single males coming here do try drugs, for some reason they think its ok but its NOT OK and they are going to get into trouble on a scale 10 times worse than in the UK.

maybe should hire magnum the private detective

Post a large reward, that should get some strong results across all the media channels.

I couldn't find info on the ATM withdrawals on the Facebook page. Would be helpful to know which area of Bangkok we're talking about.

With the now supposed sightings of him at bus stops in Ramkhamhaeng in Bangkok coupled with the ATM withdrawals, one can't help but begin to think that perhaps, for whatever personal reasons he may have, that he isn't truly missing, but that he simply doesn't wish to have contact.

.

Well, we still don't know whether it was really him and without info on the withdrawals it is impossible to tell if HE was taking money from his account or someone else. I am in Bangkok and would like to help - can't someone just please post the ATM locations and dates they were used at?