Koh Tao murders: Police free bar owners and look for ex-village headman's son

[lust]

I wonder how many overstayers were caught on Koh Tao because of this.

[metisdead]

An inflammatory post has been removed.

[claffey]

I think the police have turned over a new leaf and are going to pursue this case, no matter where or who it leads to. I believe it is because the army has their back; both to support them and to keep them on the straight and narrow path of righteousness.

If they can bring in the guilty parties and make a credible case against them (no matter who is their father), it will go a long way to restoring respect and confidence in the RTP.

You say the police have turned a new leaf regarding the case? Sure after nearly 2 weeks of trying to set people up, ignore the fact Thais could be involved, local enforcement probably covering things up, ignoring help from outside such as the FBI and having the entire world breaking their balls, good on them...

Sorry but I have no respect for them whatsoever, they handled this in a typical Thai manner, it was a circus and laughing stock, horrific images were leaked, the crime scene was a shambles with regards to how it was fenced off and investigated, the GENERAL and his outstanding bikini comment and who can forget blaming the victims friend on the grounds he was a potential homosexual. Yep, looks like Koh Tao and the rest of Thailand has a booming future

The FBI!! No self respecting country would allow a foreign governments police force to meddle in their internal investigations. And the whole world is not breaking their balls. The world consists of more than the UK and US....The PM made an error due to his lack of experience with foreign media. The Thai police are doing their best. And yes. Koh Tao and Thailand has a booming future ahead of them......Heinous crimes happen everywhere not just in Thai.....

[claffey]

A running commentary on a murder investigation , is that the way to do it?

In Thailand....Yes.....

[skorchio]

I think the police have turned over a new leaf and are going to pursue this case, no matter where or who it leads to. I believe it is because the army has their back; both to support them and to keep them on the straight and narrow path of righteousness.

If they can bring in the guilty parties and make a credible case against them (no matter who is their father), it will go a long way to restoring respect and confidence in the RTP.

Indeed it wont, in my opinion all this will do is show them up even further - it is only the International pressure that has made this happen in the first place. And only after a Scottish lad pointed the finger at the locals and fled for his life.

[Iumentum]

I wonder how many overstayers were caught on Koh Tao because of this.

Honestly, i don't think that many, for what i have seen then police is not very good at multitasking. As an example, if traffic police is out to check if people wear seat belts, you can sit with a can of beer in your hand, look as an 15 year old without license and so on, yet all they will concentrate on is that you forgot the seat belt. By it's quite nice of that traffic police officer to be so concerned about the safety of the driver, don't you think?

Edit: There is however one way to change that, insult the officer and you will see that he will suddenly become very creative to find ways to detain you.

[Albertosez]

Despite the significant effort of the locals to cover this up, it now seems the correct perps will eventually brought to justice. Avoiding giving DNA samples was a delay tactic to allow the younger siblings of their family to make a run for it. Social media and people pressure has not allowed the local sheriffs to brush this under the carpet.

Slightly off topic, but very refreshing, nevertheless, 3 x police officers have been given significant custodial jail sentences for their role in drug trafficking. I truly hope that they keep up the good work in jailing corrupt officials and also hope that they investigate the conduct and professionalism of the local officers in these murder cases to rule out any foul play in the investigations of these murders. Without the social media and people power I doubt that we would have been any closer to bringing these perps to justice !

Well done to the people who were big enough to speak out. - whatever media vehicle they used.

What we need now is real justice for KO Tao and the people that would not help!

[brewsterbudgen]

A running commentary on a murder investigation , is that the way to do it?

In Thailand....Yes.....

Not forgetting the bar stool detectives on Thai Visa.

[ChrisY1]

It would appear that the description given by Sean M has been discarded....(foreigner solving a case for them??) ....the persons mentioned have been released due to "no evidence"......LM cigarette buts at the scene....plenty of this brand under the bar.....

Panya stated that influential persons on KT have not had any influence on the case.............why would one mention this if he was not trying to convince....?

Personally...I don't believe anything these cops say now.......

[bannorkbannork]

there's been so many twists to this story there's bound to be a few more before its all over! one thing i hope is that the killers get the death penalty!!!!

[alfalfa19]

Didn't one of the cops put the male victim's bloody jeans into the luggage of the victim's friend? When I first read that, I thought : what an assclown mistake. I could be mistaken, I am thoroughly confused by all the conflicting and nonsensical reports lately. Now I feel that, if true, it was no mistake. I feel that if it were not for the recent regime change, few people would even have heard of this horror show. I think heinous crimes like this happen often in Thailand, to farangs and thais both, but they are not properly reported for "various" reasons. Whatever became, if anything , of that drunken cop who cut off the arm of the waitress who refused to have sex with him? And on and on.

[harrycallahan]

At a minimum tourists should boycott bars belonging to any of that clan.

[epicstuff]

Hiding in Bangkok? I thought he'd be well into the jungles of Cambodia/Laos/Vietnam by now.

Thank god for all the international pressure. David and Hannah may Get some justice soon. I hope Koh Tao is cleaned up of these 'families' too but I won't hold my breath on that.

Bangkok is a jungle,,, he'd be too soft for the real jungle...

But having connections to the the scene, local business and being related to a head man which fit the obvious profile, Plus leaving the island without telling his farther soon after seems a good enough reason to track him down for a thorough investigation... so why do we just read words here why is there not a picture of the guy being circulated so if anybodies sees him we can call the authorities????

[yellowboat]

I think the police have turned over a new leaf and are going to pursue this case, no matter where or who it leads to. I believe it is because the army has their back; both to support them and to keep them on the straight and narrow path of righteousness.

If they can bring in the guilty parties and make a credible case against them (no matter who is their father), it will go a long way to restoring respect and confidence in the RTP.

It would be a good, first stop, but there is so much work that needs to be done.

[timewilltell]

Despite the significant effort of the locals to cover this up, it now seems the correct perps will eventually brought to justice. Avoiding giving DNA samples was a delay tactic to allow the younger siblings of their family to make a run for it. Social media and people pressure has not allowed the local sheriffs to brush this under the carpet.

Slightly off topic, but very refreshing, nevertheless, 3 x police officers have been given significant custodial jail sentences for their role in drug trafficking. I truly hope that they keep up the good work in jailing corrupt officials and also hope that they investigate the conduct and professionalism of the local officers in these murder cases to rule out any foul play in the investigations of these murders. Without the social media and people power I doubt that we would have been any closer to bringing these perps to justice !

Well done to the people who were big enough to speak out. - whatever media vehicle they used.

What we need now is real justice for KO Tao and the people that would not help!

Yes and in the same case two civilians waiting for the delivery of those 1 million tablets of methamphetamine by police truck driven by these scum police were given the death penalty.

Sent from my iPad using ThaiVisa app

[timewilltell]

I think the police have turned over a new leaf and are going to pursue this case, no matter where or who it leads to. I believe it is because the army has their back; both to support them and to keep them on the straight and narrow path of righteousness.

If they can bring in the guilty parties and make a credible case against them (no matter who is their father), it will go a long way to restoring respect and confidence in the RTP.

You say the police have turned a new leaf regarding the case? Sure after nearly 2 weeks of trying to set people up, ignore the fact Thais could be involved, local enforcement probably covering things up, ignoring help from outside such as the FBI and having the entire world breaking their balls, good on them...

Sorry but I have no respect for them whatsoever, they handled this in a typical Thai manner, it was a circus and laughing stock, horrific images were leaked, the crime scene was a shambles with regards to how it was fenced off and investigated, the GENERAL and his outstanding bikini comment and who can forget blaming the victims friend on the grounds he was a potential homosexual. Yep, looks like Koh Tao and the rest of Thailand has a booming future

The FBI!! No self respecting country would allow a foreign governments police force to meddle in their internal investigations. And the whole world is not breaking their balls. The world consists of more than the UK and US....The PM made an error due to his lack of experience with foreign media. The Thai police are doing their best. And yes. Koh Tao and Thailand has a booming future ahead of them......Heinous crimes happen everywhere not just in Thai.....

What rubbish - most western nations have quite good co-operation between their respective police forces and most of those police forces have a somewhat better reputation than the Thai police as well.

Sent from my iPad using ThaiVisa app

[madmitch]

We all know the police have been made to look foolish throughout this investigation but I would also say the same about Thailand's English language press which has been filled with inaccuracies, conflicting stories, confusing reporting and poor use of the English language.

[Docno]

The DNA testing, if done properly, will also identify relatives of the perpetrators and the exact nature of their relationship (father, son, brother, cousin, 2nd cousin, etc.). With the mass testing being done, if the perps are locals, the police should have been able to triangulate on them quite specifically. Catching them is another matter.

[Lupatria]

“All sides should have confidence in the police”

Dear Mr. Pol Lt-General Panya Mamen,

there is a simple way to make your dreams come true: earn it!

[almafudd]

"Panya also promised that the investigation would not be influenced by reports that some influential persons on the island might try to obstruct police work.

...

Meanwhile, a police source said it was not possible that people on the island did not have any knowledge of what might have happened on the night of the murder. The source said may be they don't want to talk to police, as they do not want to have problems with an influential group."

Umm... That's exactly whats happening. The police are letting the mafia influence the locals and the locals aren't talking because of what the mafia might do to them.

TIT

[Utley]

Police revealed that two Thais had been interviewed but were released after refusing to provide DNA samples: What the Murder of Two British Tourists Tells Us About Thailand’s Dark Side

[monk213]

I think the police have turned over a new leaf and are going to pursue this case, no matter where or who it leads to. I believe it is because the army has their back; both to support them and to keep them on the straight and narrow path of righteousness.

If they can bring in the guilty parties and make a credible case against them (no matter who is their father), it will go a long way to restoring respect and confidence in the RTP.

You say the police have turned a new leaf regarding the case? Sure after nearly 2 weeks of trying to set people up, ignore the fact Thais could be involved, local enforcement probably covering things up, ignoring help from outside such as the FBI and having the entire world breaking their balls, good on them...

Sorry but I have no respect for them whatsoever, they handled this in a typical Thai manner, it was a circus and laughing stock, horrific images were leaked, the crime scene was a shambles with regards to how it was fenced off and investigated, the GENERAL and his outstanding bikini comment and who can forget blaming the victims friend on the grounds he was a potential homosexual. Yep, looks like Koh Tao and the rest of Thailand has a booming future

The FBI!! No self respecting country would allow a foreign governments police force to meddle in their internal investigations. And the whole world is not breaking their balls. The world consists of more than the UK and US....The PM made an error due to his lack of experience with foreign media. The Thai police are doing their best. And yes. Koh Tao and Thailand has a booming future ahead of them......Heinous crimes happen everywhere not just in Thai.....

They didn't want the FBI in because they knew, Koh Tao knew, everyone knew. We all know that they tried to frame the British guy, they tried going after the Burmese before any Thais and they were incompetent enough to just let key sustpects go with scratches and cuts on them, who knew the victims.

By the entire world I was referring to mainly the internet, how many nationalities are on here for a start? How many of us have spoken about it with family or friends on other social media networks or email, how many people have they spoken to? As you can see, word travels fast especially when your entire murder investigation is under the spotlight and being revealed for the shambles it is. Now all that needs to be done is to reveal how corrupt the police have been and Thai populous of Koh Tao.

This is why I mentioned in another thread about how channel 3 this morning has literally NOTHING about the case, nothing about Sean, nothing about the suspect or head chief of Koh Tao, zilch. I wonder why?

[falangjim]

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We all know the police have been made to look foolish throughout this investigation but I would also say the same about Thailand's English language press which has been filled with inaccuracies, conflicting stories, confusing reporting and poor use of the English language.

Not to mention the Bangkok Post used this story as a teaching tool for ESL. Disgraceful, insensitive, and disgusting Bangkok Post.

[almafudd]

Todays comments from the U.K Independent newspaper concerning this horrific crime.

You need to go to the main page and then Asian News section as like yesterday the article link url comes back with a ''404'' notice.

One wonders why that should be?

http://www.independent.co.uk

Maybe if you gave proper link it wouldn't go to a 404. No links on that website is as the link you provided there, so my guess if that the mistake is on you and not some kind of conspiracy.

Try http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/thailand-beach-murders-police-identify-two-suspects-over-deaths-of-hannah-witheridge-and-david-miller-9751056.html

[Goshawk]

It's all pointless speculation.

I've no problem with ThaiVisa posting the latest 'news' as a stand alone read/headline. That is admirable . . . but really, what's the point of letting it go beyond that simply for the army of armchair online Lt. Colombo's to conjure up half baked scenarios & solutions. The mind boggles. Oh, wait a minute . . . got it . . there's lots of lovely ads to look at (and click on) in between these sherlockian posts.

[almafudd]

I wonder how many overstayers were caught on Koh Tao because of this.

None they all fled the island.

Nothing to see here move along ...

[IamNoone88]

The village headman obviously wanted to give his son a 10 day head start. And of course there is no mafia. How this was missed with 600 police is beyond words.

[Iumentum]

It's all pointless speculation.

I've no problem with ThaiVisa posting the latest 'news' as a stand alone read/headline. That is admirable . . . but really, what's the point of letting it go beyond that simply for the army of armchair online Lt. Colombo's to conjure up half baked scenarios & solutions. The mind boggles. Oh, wait a minute . . . got it . . there's lots of lovely ads to look at (and click on) in between these sherlockian posts.

How do you think the investigation would look, if there wasn't the world wide media attention that it currently got?

[monkeycountry]

"Panya also promised that the investigation would not be influenced by reports that some influential persons on the island might try to obstruct police work."

"Panya refused to reveal the suspects' names, saying police were questioning one man and expected to arrest another in Bangkok today."

Seems to me influential persons are already obstructing police work, why else reveal the names of all the other suspects, but not these 2 suspects?

[metisdead]

Grammar police posts have been removed as well as the replies.