Arrest warrant for Koh Tao murder suspect to be Issued in 3 days

[Maejo Man]

With all this we now have a change of driver according to the other newspaper.

National police chief Pol Gen Somyot Pumpanmuang said Wednesday he will sign an order appointing Pol Lt Gen Chakthip to lead the probe into the murder of Hannah Witheridge, 23, and David Miller, 24, whose...

[Chicken George]

Why wait 3 days? Hoping new evidence will appear?

[gforsi]

Another brilliant move.............give the [possible] murderer/rapist a few days notice to run!!!

Maybe that is excactly what they want to achieve. Wait until this news spreads and see the behavior of their supects. If someone was abruptly leaving the island, it would smell fishy (not because its on an island

[gopis108]

I couldnt help thinking and mentioning that this Officer has got that permanent THai-lie half smile that so many of these officers have.

[Chicken George]

I feel so sorry for the families of the victims having to endure this charade. .Bring the army in to sort this crap out!!

[ABCer]

Hoping for intervention 'from High Up' ?

High up is too far and high.

Boots on the ground grind the events.

Just think about it: "warrant for arrest of suspect will be issued in 3 days"!

I understand - we hope to make arrest in 3 days;

I understand - we have enough evidence to issue a warrant;

I do not understand Thai Police acts from the very beginning of this case.

Actually I do understand. What I cannot understand is how stupid are their public comments.

Don't they see how revealing their comments are?

Anybody talking about, hoping for or believing in forthcoming changes in Thailand must be a lunatic.

[Chernsarmkhuat]

The police have interrogated...

This news report just come in from the Daily M.

Quote

"Thai police investigating the murder of two British backpackers tried to bribe a taxi driver to give false evidence against a football team then beat him up when he refused, it was claimed today.

Pornprasit Sukdam claims he was offered 700,000 baht (£13,300) if he agreed to be a fake witness to events leading up to the deaths of David Miller and Hannah Witheridge in Koh Tao.

But when he turned down the offer, he claims the officers became angry and attacked him before releasing him on Monday evening".

A Sickening read! He is one of the alleged players from the football team.

Sick indeed. It is better to (deliberately) not catch anyone than to knowingly catch the wrong person. Firstly, an innocent person would be made to suffer and secondly, the real killer would still be at large. I hope that the cops who did this will be punished.

This also shows what we can expect from this investigation: nothing even approaching a real intention to honestly solve the crime.

Probably need the three days to torture, interrogate, sorry persuade another taxi driver into being a false witness.

[joshuatdixon]

Why do they release details before issuing the warrant?

[Arjay]

Question is the "suspect" has a minimum 3 days head start and could be anywhere by now.

[GOLDBUGGY]

I wonder how far a person can flee in 3 days?

Guess we will find out.

[Arjay]

Police confident to arrest suspects in Koh Tao murder in 2 days. Oh now it's 2 days!

[richusa]

This should be interesting. 1st they kicked out the FBI, because they would find the right people. 2nd where is the Singapore evidence?

Somebody besides the 'Village People' will take the fall.

[Robroona]

Shades of Chalerm and his utterances.

We know who did it and we will have it all cleared up within 3/6 months, depending on how drunk he was.

Has he been spooed on Koh Tao?

[Iumentum]

"We know who you are, really, and you have 3 days to surrender before we come after you. Seriously. Surrender. Please. You have no idea how much we'd appreciate that. But we know who you are, so why don't you surrender? Nothing to lose now. Because we already know. Scout's honor!"

3 points for trying, Mr Policeman.

More like "You know that we know who you are, but we cannot help you this time. You got 3 days, so you better start to run, cross the border and hide. Sorry but our own ass is on the line now, so you can pick up the suitcase you left us before you start running".

[GOLDBUGGY]

Simple strategy actually.

Arrest anyone you like and keep him locked up for 6 months until this case cools off and is forgotten by the press.

Suspect goes to court and is let off due to a lack of evidence, which we may or may not hear about.

A promise that this search will go on.

Case closed.

All is happy again in the Land of Smiles.

[stephen terry]

Behind the scenes, a deal is being agreed in return for a light prison sentence, and financial compensation for the perps family. That way everyone will agree justice has been done and everyone will save face. Koh Tao will be proclaimed a 'safe' tourist attraction, and all the locals can carry on as before.

[webfact]

UPDATE:

Thai Police: Koh Tao backpacker Hannah Witheridge raped twice, arrest imminent

SYDNEY: -- A BRITISH backpacker on the holiday island of Koh Tao in Thailand was raped by two of her killers before she was murdered, police have revealed.

Thai police believe three people were involved in the attacks on 23-year-old Hannah Witheridge and David Miller, 24, whose semi-naked bodies were found on a beach on September 15.

“Two of the suspects raped and killed Witheridge while another one witnessed the murder. We’re confident we have a very high chance of finding the suspects,” Lieutenant General Panya Mamen told the Bangkok Post.

Lt Gen Panya, appointed assistant national police chief today, said authorities had short-listed 10 potential suspects.

“We are confident that within two or three days an arrest warrant can be issued or a wrongdoer arrested,” Lt Gen Panya said, adding that the list of 10 contained both Thais and Myanmar nationals.

“We have confidence in the forensic evidence that points to the wrongdoers, but we must be careful.”

Full story: http://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/thai-police-koh-tao-backpacker-hannah-witheridge-raped-twice-arrest-imminent/story-fnizu68q-1227077684066

-- News.com.au 2014-10-02

[KarenBravo]

Now you know why some other SE Asian countries say "Don't Thai to me".

[wabothai]

Brushing up on credibility. Too late general and please stop playing games.

You think farang stupid?

[AGareth2]

issueing an arrest warrant and actually arresting someone are 2 different matters

[KarenBravo]

“We have confidence in the forensic evidence that points to the wrongdoers, but we must be careful.”

What does that even mean??!!

[Sena Dave]

Its about 3 weeks too late for being "Careful"

[Suffinator]

Is it just me, or does this case show the so called "Thainess" at it's ugliest? Xenophobia, a blame it on the victims attitude, and complete incompetence of law enforcement agencies, all come together. To top this up, one must hear the now famous bikini speech of our leader, and the cynical and difficult to beat "let them wear tracking devices" idea of the tourist minister. The only way to bring Thailand to it's senses, would be a complete boycott by tourists planning to visit.

And what about the expats. I've said it before... if you want to effect change in Thailand then the expat community should walk. Just think of the impact of 10,000 or more hitting Phuket Airport or Had Yai - do you think the international press would ignore a mass exodus? When interviewed the expats can then say why and demand change. Seriously if the Thai Gov didn't change they would be losing billions each year and would be a massive blow to the economy... you talk about tourists boycotting but you and the other expats could achieve so much more. Time to get off the bar stool and put your words into actions.

[Alex Mo]

Soooo....
The investigation was...
Сriminals were Thai citizens we will find them -> nah, probably not, criminals were Burmese, yes, we think, that were illegal workers -> ho we saw farang there, it was probably farang, not asian people for sure, DNA? who cares. -> ...we need to defuse the situation a little bit -
"20 armed uniformed police and immigration officials, arrest immidiatly those computerworms farangs in Chiang Mai!" -> ahhh ok we have a new information, criminals were probably Thai citizens and immigrant workers (maybe with farangs?), let's get them... but... let's do this at monday, mai pen rai.

Sorry, but from the outside it looks like that

[empireboy]

Geez even Inspector Clueso would have done better than this! I seriously think these guys should get a better Media Manager... what a herd of incompetent Goons!

[khunpa]

Geez even Inspector Clueso would have done better than this! I seriously think these guys should get a better Media Manager... what a herd of incompetent Goons!

True, there is only one man that can solve this case.... Bring him in!

[sangfroid]

The only reasonable conclusion, is to believe, that they DONT CARE.

Of course they don't care!! After all, the victims were "only farangs".

[DISKO]

A police source told the Bangkok Post that detectives were looking for three men who shopped at a convenience store near Sairee Beach where the pair were killed.

Captured on security cameras, the trio bought one item later found discarded. The source said DNA recovered from that package matched that found at the crime scene.

[Number 3]

Shame on you RTP for such outlandish false statements.

Shame on you army and government of Thailand to allow this to knowingly continue.

Shame on all the agencies that are complicit in the scapegoats that will soon be marched out and publicly finger pointed

Shame on this whole sad investigative process from beginning to end.

Bravo police - all your efforts seem to have paid off for you.

[phanangpete]

Spring News are saying that the three ppl work at AC Bar.

Yes thats what ive been saying all along, it all started in that bar !