Southern police chief: Enough evidence in British tourists' murder case to make arrest now

[mango66]

if it was not the mafia,

maybee they were now " cooperating " to find the culptries,

as it would not tuch there business in KT and Samui;

[almafudd]

1 of 2 things will happen next. This will either be pinned on someone who had nothing to do with it or they will have actually caught the guilty folks.

What we have here is Sherlock at his finest ... what other 'things' could possibly happen??

[wilcopops]

every now and then a comment by a local Nabob just makes you howl at the lack of logic.....how can a rational person say this?

"If there are mafias, the police should have informed and local people might have told the police about it,"

[Neilly]

He is the brother of a village headman in Koh Tao.

He also said another suspect is also a son of that village headman. But he has already to Bangkok.

Wow...impressed !!! Not what I was expecting at all

[wellred]

1 of 2 things will happen next. This will either be pinned on someone who had nothing to do with it or they will have actually caught the guilty folks.

What we have here is Sherlock at his finest ... what other 'things' could possibly happen??

I could have a pizza for lunch today.

[mango66]

What about the two that refused to give DNA samples?

"If there are mafias..."

its not polite to aquire DNAs from mafia memebrs !

you know ??

[Dumu Ali]

It is high time that fair warnings are issued about mafia hotspots so we can avoid them

Thailand has many great places so why go to the mafia ganglands - Samui, Koh Tao, Pattaya, and Phuket

Go elsewhere like Koh Kut, Hua Hin, CM and thousands of other great places

Why (drugs?) do so many tourists ignore the hundreds of wonderful towns and go to the tourist traps of smiling mafias

normally i might be pessimist but I feel there is going to be a big arrest and parade and official recreation this time

the smell of rare justice is in the air tonight

The village headman knows more and knows where his brother is - can someone supply the headmans name and his brothers name and picture so that he does not escape

[Soutpeel]

if it was not the mafia,

maybee they were now " cooperating " to find the culptries,

as it would not tuch there business in KT and Samui;

its was the sons of village headmen....

[AGareth2]

I hope the DNA matches

[littlebw]

Looks like a few of us may eat humble pie (like me)

looks like the police may have found the correct murderers / not stitched anybody up etc

For that i apologise for doubting them and hope this is the future now

[mrtoad]

More importantly how will this effect tourism??????

Well, ask yourself... "Will you be going to Koh Tao in the near future?"

Absolutely not, and I would like to see a mass boycott of said Island.

The only way for scum to really get the message is to hit them were it hurts, and in this case that's in the pocket. This has been a disgusting cover up form the very first minute that the victims were discovered.

[terryp]

children of the headman ...untouchables (or so they thought) if this is true this will ramifications on KT

[ebean001]

Relax everyone. They don't make arrests until all the DNA, etc are examined. In the meantime, the suspects are being held by the police. So many of you are really uneducated people on this board. The police are doing well. They want the case to be solid. In fact, they probably want confessions from the guys who did this. The confessions are normally easy to get in these cases in Thailand. You think torture forget that.

All they need to do is to explain DNA and other forensic evidence. Most people dont even know about DNA and what it can do and certainly many Thais isolated on a little island working at labor type of jobs probably dont scan the internet for the latest and greatest. They probably dont even know many cameras are around them.

Once the guilty realize they have no chance they confess for a promise of a less sentence maybe.

[almafudd]

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He also disclosed that the two suspects who are speed boat employees have been cleared after DNA testing did not match those found at the scene and in the body of one British victims.

So polite to mention about the DNA found in the body of one of the British victims. She was raped, people know this but there is no need to say it in such a disgusting way!

When are people going to get it through their heads that these are translations from Thai, it might sound completely different in Thai!

It would sound totally different it would sound exactly like Thai

[Katipo]

He is the brother of a village headman in Koh Tao.

He also said another suspect is also a son of that village headman. But he has already to Bangkok.

Wow...impressed !!! Not what I was expecting at all

Village Headman = Mafia local mafia boss on a place like Koh Tao. So yeah, very impressive.

I can only speculate that the international coverage coupled with pressure from someone like the PM Prayuth are the reason for this. I cannot recall any similar arrests of relatively influential people in cases such as this (perhaps others can?).

Good news for the victims family, and a step in the right direction for Thailand.

[almafudd]

I have been following this with great interest for the last week , is anyone able to confirm that the man on the left of SM 's 7/11 picture

is the same man seen hanging around with the police at the crime scene on day one ?

And , is there any truth in the statement that two men in SM's 7/11 picture refused to be DNA tested .

Refusing a DNA test doesn't indicate guilt.

Would you want the bib to have a sample of your dna?

[surinderek]

There is more than one, he said, and expressed confidence they will be arrested and charged within this week, he added

one hopes this is not hollow promise that will come back to haunt them again, like a few other statements that have been made surrounding this case

Detained and failed to give a DNA test ? smell of maffia money for BIB and now rearrested, boy scouts could have done better

[transam]

if it was not the mafia,

maybee they were now " cooperating " to find the culptries,

as it would not tuch there business in KT and Samui;

its was the sons of village headmen....

Brother and son of.............

[Soutpeel]

Looks like a few of us may eat humble pie (like me)

looks like the police may have found the correct murderers / not stitched anybody up etc

For that i apologise for doubting them and hope this is the future now

Well at least you have had the spine to admit you were wrong, one suspects there are numbers of TV finest super CSI member's who will not have the class to admit they were wrong and still keep coming up with conspiracy theories and character assassinations of the various parties involved in this case.

the fools that spring to mind are

"Fred Flinstone"

"Pluto" and few others who will not graduating from the TV school of armchair dectectives...

[monty1412]

Message to Royal Thai Police

I like you guys, I'd like you allot more if you "did and told" rather than "said and might do"

I'd like you allot more if you observed more prudent , official and respectful protocol of not commenting about the case until you have solid , solid evidence and made an arrest

Repeat after me " This is a complex and very serious investigation and at present we are not at liberty to discuss or reveal any details pertaining to our investigation, we are in contact with both the British Consulate and the victims family and are keeping them up to date however as stated, until we are ready no statements or speculation will be forthcoming"

I'd like you allot, allot more if instead of seeming to try and convince everyone that you are doing your job and leaving no stone unturned that you actually went and did it

I'd like you even more than allot allot if you were to acknowledge that statements that indicate that one of victims had been raped and multiple semen samples were found inside here were not made public and trotted out at ever interview like its a mundane fact for the sake of the relatives and the hurt it causes them

And lastly I'd be willing to fling garlands of sweetly perfumed flowers at you if you can stand infornt of the camera with the perpetrators having solid irrefutable evidence thats withstands public muster

In the meantime until you can do such things can I suggest you respectfully shut up, start looking under every rock and understand that the poor victims family and friends are the ones who are suffering here..........

[SirBser]

The village headman are the people with all the power, mafia just means people who are organized and these people are organized.

Anyways glad it's all coming down, I had a feeling from the beginning it was someone with connections, if your the brother and the son of the village chief on Koh Tao you HAVE connections.

[DLock]

He is the brother of a village headman in Koh Tao.

He also said another suspect is also a son of that village headman. But he has already to Bangkok.

Wow...impressed !!! Not what I was expecting at all

Really?

This is exactly what I suspected.

Koh Tao is a lawless place where influential people can pretty much do as they please with impunity, and have done for a long time.

If the police had not focussed only on foreigners and Burmese fisherman because they said that there was no way a Thai could be responsible, they may have solved this a week go.

Local people must have spoken up, and if these guys did in fact do it, I am glad the police caught them...although one wonders without the glare of the International media, would they have solved it...before the next "crime du jour" captured everyones attention.

Next stage is the punishment as the world watches...death penalty reduced to life in prison for the confession?

[surinderek]

There is more than one, he said, and expressed confidence they will be arrested and charged within this week, he added

one hopes this is not hollow promise that will come back to haunt them again, like a few other statements that have been made surrounding this case

Detained and failed to give a DNA test ? smell of maffia money for BIB and now rearrested, boy scouts could have done better

Thai holiday brochures shuld have a warning on them as tobbaco and smoking do,

[thedivezone]

Great success , well done and what a relief if this turns out to be true.

As painful as it certainly must have been for the families of the victims, it was 100 % the media attention that achieved the desired results.

The police chief admitted it himself (probably not even realising what he was saying) , that had it not been for the worlwide publicity,

some poor sucker would have taken the rap.

Now the world needs to continue monitoring the trial, and most importantly, the length of the sentence.

[Nickymaster]

"If there are mafias"

The police denying there even are mafias on Koh Tao is a sure sign this is a cover up. Have they even bothered questioning the ones in the bar brawl or the ones chasing the remaining witness? This is a joke.

Depends what you call mafia. We have a tendency of calling everything mafia here in Thailand that doesn't follow the "rules". Beach chair mafia, jet ski mafia, motorcycle rental mafia. Taxi mafia.

For the ppolice mafias might be bigger than the guys the Scottish guy met. Drug cartels etc.

[HughJass]

One tourist murder suspect now arrested, another on the run

KOH TAO: -- The police have arrested a suspect in the murder of two British tourists in Koh Tao and are still hunting for a second suspect who has escaped into Bangkok.

Eighth Region Police Command commissioner Pol Lt-Gen Panya Mamen identified the first suspect as Mon.

He is the brother of a village headman in Koh Tao.

He was arrested after evidence which police collected were examined and proved he was involved, he said.

He also said another suspect is also a son of that village headman. But he has already to Bangkok.

He said both suspects were captured by CCTV cameras and the police have gathered enough evidence to implicate them in the murders.

He said the southern police were coordinating with the metropolitan police to hunt him down, and expected to apprehend him today.

The southern police chief also assured the public that there was no arrest of scapegoats in this murder case as it now is a focal attention of the world.

He also dismissed any suggestion of local mafias or influential people that could twist the investigation with promise that local influence would pose no obstacle to the police investigation.

Instead the police will eliminate all these mafias, he said.

Meanwhile a police source said the police are also looking into the cooperation of those who helped to arrange the suspect to escape. They also will be arrested.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/one-tourist-murder-suspect-now-arrested-another-run/

-- Thai PBS 2014-09-23

The southern police chief also assured the public that there was no arrest of scapegoats in this murder case as it now is a focal attention of the world.

so it takes the attention of the worlds media to stop the police fitting up scapegoats?

[SirBser]

The village headman is also the owner of a bar there, he can keep his bar open all night long why because he's the village chief.

[JOC]

One tourist murder suspect now arrested, another on the run

KOH TAO: -- The police have arrested a suspect in the murder of two British tourists in Koh Tao and are still hunting for a second suspect who has escaped into Bangkok.

Eighth Region Police Command commissioner Pol Lt-Gen Panya Mamen identified the first suspect as Mon.

He is the brother of a village headman in Koh Tao.

He was arrested after evidence which police collected were examined and proved he was involved, he said.

He also said another suspect is also a son of that village headman. But he has already to Bangkok.

He said both suspects were captured by CCTV cameras and the police have gathered enough evidence to implicate them in the murders.

He said the southern police were coordinating with the metropolitan police to hunt him down, and expected to apprehend him today.

The southern police chief also assured the public that there was no arrest of scapegoats in this murder case as it now is a focal attention of the world.

He also dismissed any suggestion of local mafias or influential people that could twist the investigation with promise that local influence would pose no obstacle to the police investigation.

Instead the police will eliminate all these mafias, he said.

Meanwhile a police source said the police are also looking into the cooperation of those who helped to arrange the suspect to escape. They also will be arrested.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/one-tourist-murder-suspect-now-arrested-another-run/

-- Thai PBS 2014-09-23

Well done to the Thai police!!

That will hopefully shut up all the cover-up-theory posters here!!

So now everyone can go back to their petty lives, where the daily hunt for the cheapest Chang is the main priority!!

Have a lovely afternoon!!

[Soutpeel]

if it was not the mafia,

maybee they were now " cooperating " to find the culptries,

as it would not tuch there business in KT and Samui;

its was the sons of village headmen....

Brother and son of.............

my apologies your correct...

[yougivemebaby]

Let's say they actually do have the real killers. They're Thai and connected. What would their 'punishment' be?

Think it would be different than normal as this has been international news? Death penalty? Life in Prison? Pay to get out?

If they really did find the culprits. CONGRATULATIONS! Especially if they are connected. ! Thank you