DNA samples from two Myanmar workers match with those collected from British victim

[webfact]

DNA samples from two Myanmar workers match with those collected from British victim

BANGKOK: -- A police source has confirmed that DNA sample from two of three detained Myanmar workers matched with DNA extracted from semen found on a British tourist who was killed along with her compatriot on Koh Tao on September 15.

The source said the DNA results will be used to obtain arrest warrants to make formal arrests of the two suspects.

Police Commissioner General Pol Gen Somyos Pumpanmuang will hold a press conference to announce the arrests of the two on Koh Tao at 10 am Friday.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/DNA-samples-from-two-Myanmar-workers-match-with-th-30244677.html

-- The Nation 2014-10-03

[taony]

now there is a twist we weren't expecting.

[Costas2008]

Unless I hear a confirmation from the British police or the FBI, I will never believe the results "obtained" by the Thai police.

[fritzzz25]

They have boldly made all these statements to the media. If they are so confident in their case, publicly show the DNA sample analyses to the public and have an INDEPENDENT agency verify them. This is an absolute frame up if they refuse to show indepedent results.

[BThomack]

I don't believe it for a second... they probably offered them the money from the Thai "Scapegoat". Seriously...???? The world is watching and they want to end this without doing the proper job and get tourism back....

[dieseldave1951]

now there is a twist we weren't expecting.

oh ---really !!!!!!

[taony]

So does this mean that they weren't tested the first time around? When they tested so many Burmese? They didn't test three Burmese that worked in the bar where the deceased had been right before they were murdered??!!!?!! Why wasn't there a match the first time around??

[Soupdragon]

So does this mean that they weren't tested the first time around? When they tested so many Burmese? They didn't test three Burmese that worked in the bar where the deceased had been right before they were murdered??!!!?!! Why wasn't there a match the first time around??

Burmese DNA is tricky stuff. It can spontaneously mutate into, well, anything you want it to match to.

[ozsamurai]

No matter what dog'n'pony show they put on I think we all know it is BS. Push for independent confirmation collected and evaluated OUTSIDE THAILAND.

Oz

[alant]

It seems, from the comments, that there is little faith in the validity of these results. This being the case the problem will remain for those interested in tourism for their lively-hood as a problem is a problem, real or perceived. For the sake of those who died and the ordinary people who have been dragged into this independent verification is needed as soon as possible.

[HooHaa]

wow that was a remarkably quick turn around for DNA results

[AleG]

No matter what dog'n'pony show they put on I think we all know it is BS. Push for independent confirmation collected and evaluated OUTSIDE THAILAND.

Oz

The DNA found on the victims was done in Singapore.

[sabai-dee-man]

That will be another two "rich" Burmese families on the ever-growing list of Thai "donations".

[webfact]

Thai police say Myanmar men confess to murder of British tourists
Bangkok, Thailand | AFP |

Thai police said Friday that two men from Myanmar had admitted to killing a pair of British holidaymakers whose battered bodies were found on a resort island last month.

David Miller, 24, and Hannah Witheridge, 23, were found dead on the normally tranquil backpacker haven of Koh Tao on September 15, rocking the island's small community.

The grisly double-murder dented Thailand's image as a tourist paradise, while the police have come under intense scrutiny for their handling of the investigation.

"Two Myanmar suspects have confessed to killing the pair," Thai National police chief Somyot Poompanmoung told AFP, adding that their DNA matched traces found at the crime scene.

A third Myanmar national had been held since Thursday on suspicion of involvement, Somyot, Thailand's top policeman, added.

"The third suspect said he left the crime scene before murder took place," Somyot said.

"DNA test results (from the two men) confirmed that the same DNA was found in the body of the (female) victim," he added.

Kiattipong Khaosamang, the provincial police chief, told AFP that the two men had also admitted to raping Witheridge.

"Both raped the female victim," he said, adding the pair were killed with a wooden stick and a garden hoe, which was found bloodied at the scene.

Police are waiting for a local court to issue a warrant so the men can be charged, he added.

Thai authorities frequently accuse migrants from Myanmar and Cambodia of committing crimes in the kingdom, where they make up a vast, poorly-paid and low-status workforce.

But police have insisted they would not scapegoat anyone for the crime, despite coming under immense pressure to get a result as anger built over an apparently sluggish investigation in the days after the bodies were found.


- Police under pressure -

Police have since DNA tested scores of people in and around Koh Tao and questioned dozens of people -- including friends of Miller -- and Friday's seeming breakthrough will ease the scrutiny on the Thai force.

Critics -- especially among the British media -- have accused Thai authorities of bungling the investigation in the near three weeks since the murders by chasing the wrong leads and failing to lock down the island in the hours following the killings.

The media pack was allowed to trample all over the crime scene just hours after the crime, while information -- often erroneous -- flowed out unfiltered until the intervention of the nation's top police officer.

The killings delivered a fresh blow to Thailand's image as a tourist haven after months of political protests that ended in May's army coup.

Days after the murders Thailand's gruff junta chief was forced into an apology after he suggested tourists in bikinis could be more vulnerable to attack -- comments which caused an international outcry.

With the peak tourist season fast approaching Thai authorities are desperate to draw a line under the incident.

"I think the tourist confidence will improve," Kobkarn Wattanavarangkul, Minister of Tourism and Sports told AFP, hours after the apparent confessions.

"The issue of tourist security is very important to us," she said.

On Tuesday tourist authorities announced plans to give holidaymakers wristbands carrying their personal details in an effort to ensure the safety of tourists.


-- (c) Copyright AFP 2014-10-03

[DiamondKing]

WHAT A SHOCKING SURPRISE

[SeaVisionBurma]

One off topic post removed. Keep your comments relevant please.

[ezzra]

And so the proverbial lynching begins.....

[retsdon]

"I think the tourist confidence will improve," Kobkarn Wattanavarangkul, Minister of Tourism and Sports told AFP, hours after the apparent confessions.

Wishful thinking. Why would tourist confidence improve because three migrant workers have been fitted up to take the fall? In fact, quite the reverse.

[NongKhaiKid]

The Burmese are in police custody but not, apparently, formally under arrest ?

The DNA HAS TO match, imagine having to release yet more suspects after all the song and dance !

[anon467367354]

Shazaaaam! surprise surprise surprise!

Considering they announced it before they proved it who's surprised at all?

I just don't believe it. It seemed to be a crime of anger, loss of face maybe,

the Burmese I know that I've asked about that in their culture, don't really have it.

Would love to hear the relationship between the two and how it went down. I'm not

going to fall for the walking down the beach and saw them having sex and couldn't control

myself semi-acceptable story this time.

Maybe the "powerful village headsman" is going to kick the "<deleted>" of his boys to never

pull a stunt like this ever again. Just my opinion of course.

[maco]

well done!

and done in the Thai way!!

I love it!!!

it's one reason I stay, anaother reason I love this place.

[NongKhaiKid]

"I think the tourist confidence will improve," Kobkarn Wattanavarangkul, Minister of Tourism and Sports told AFP, hours after the apparent confessions.

Wishful thinking. Why would tourist confidence improve because three migrant workers have been fitted up to take the fall? In fact, quite the reverse.

Oh thank Buddha, tourist revenue is safe.

i hope the British Ambassador is noting this aspect of ' exemplary professionalism '.

[thaijoe]

thought they already dna'ed the burma people and found nothing, then it was a thai person, and 1 fled to bkk? now back to the burma guys? do they really know who they have?

call in ncis, gibbs and his crew

[Docno]

No matter what dog'n'pony show they put on I think we all know it is BS. Push for independent confirmation collected and evaluated OUTSIDE THAILAND.

Oz

The DNA found on the victims was done in Singapore.

But there's nothing to indicate that the Burmese men's DNA will also be tested in Singapore... that is an absolute necessity as well, given how this case has developed.

[bristolgeoff]

3 said they did it confessed.now they say 2 done it interesting

[andygunther]

They just looking for a scapegoat so they can close the case...

The tourist season starts soon,

and they want everything to normal before then.

[Baerboxer]

Unless I hear a confirmation from the British police or the FBI, I will never believe the results "obtained" by the Thai police.

I doubt anyone will care what you, me, other posters on TV, bloggers, facebookers, twitters or any others believe.

A much better control of "media leaks", individuals, and proper updates would have conveyed all this very differently.

Now doubts have been created, the missing 2 minutes edited out of the cctv video, the Sean McAnna episode, the cloud around former Thai suspects etc

At the end of the day, they now have confessions, DNA matches, CCTV and witnesses. If the British Ambassador comes out and supports the investigation and it's findings then that's it.

[TomJoad]

No murder investigation is going to be 100% perfect. There will always be some amount of doubt. All anyone can ever do is look at all the evidence, and see which way it points. And right now most of it points to the 3 suspects in custody.

[JarekN]

BS, before the DNA test took long, they weren't able to do it in TH and now they just got it done in short period of time... As I said before, unless an independent out of TH party confirms and checks the results this is BS.

[Richo68]

So does this mean that they weren't tested the first time around? When they tested so many Burmese? They didn't test three Burmese that worked in the bar where the deceased had been right before they were murdered??!!!?!! Why wasn't there a match the first time around??

EXCELLENT POINT!