Police close in on foreign gang murdering Spanish businessman

[pegman]

Traveling between Burma (export capital of meth) to Iran (2m meth users) through Thailand. Strongest of ties between Burmese military (backers of meth trade militias) and top Thai power broker. Wild guess but this could have something to do with this. Clearly message sending way to dispose of body.

Surely these people would find somebody else to act as a simple DRUG RUNNER for them...?

Unlikely a runner but maybe a deal maker. Mafia in Catalonia too.

[Dan5]

It does not make any sense to be hanging about withdrawing money from atms, why risk getting caught when he supposedly has 37 million sitting in Singapore account. There is a lot more to this story than what is been reported, i would hazard a guess and say Artur will never be found and the trail will run cold. Why he was killed is anyone's guess, nasty bit of work.

"Why risk getting caught". Not rare for criminals to get caught because they do something stupid.

[SOTIRIOS]

....isn't it.....'evidence'.....???

[alanrchase]

....isn't it.....'evidence'.....???

As usual, excellent post. Totally get it.

[emibel1]

I dont think David Bernat was involved in any illegal deal. He was just a succesful young entrepreneur. He came from a humble background here in Spain but still he managed to get an engineering degree in La Salle (not easy) and an MBA in IESE(ranked between the top 10 business schools in the world). The average salary of IESE alumni with an MBA is around 140.000 USD a year!!! He worked for years with Boston Consulting Group and Oliver Wyman and then he started his own consulting business focused in systems integration...hardly the profile of a criminal (although everything is possible).

A different thing is that may be he chose the wrong friends in Bangkok. Segarra background was the opposite to Bernat´s...without specific education he tried many business before and they all went bad untill he filled for bankruptcy last year and left Spain vanishing in South Esat Asia. IMHO they met in BKK and became friends. Segarra was probably broken and desperate and when he found out his friend was so healthy he and his gf came up with a plan to steal his money. And so they did. He kidnapped David and probably under torture (or the threat to do it) made him transfer the money to his bank account. Once this done he just killed him. Probably this happened in a condo somewhere in BKK, so the only way he could dispose of the body was cutting it and smuggling the pieces out of the building. Then he just dropped the pieces in the river hoping that in a country like Thailand it would take ages to the cops to find out who the dead body was, if ever. He was only so brainless to keep David´s phone and answer the messages in Catalan, not a widely spread language, pretending he was the victim and thus shortening the suspects circle to those speaking Catalan in Bangkok.

[sabaii69]

They do not have time, to look for muders.When they are arresting. Old age pensioners!

If they think he has playing cards on him, he's doomed!

[gandalf12]

If it was a message they would have made sure the body was quickly found

[farcanell]

The elephant in the room.... How was he compelled to follow instructions whilst in public?

Or have cctv shown all cash withdrawals to be by a third party?

[SOTIRIOS]

...they first stated that...... 'he is the murderer'...

....now they are .......'considering issuing a warrant'.....because he was 'seen in a video with his girlfriend near the hotel'......???

... confusing....

[Traveller45]

They do not have time, to look for muders.When they are arresting. Old age pensioners!

I think we are being unfair on the BIB over this bridge club thing. Let's face it the bridge clubbers are old and won't run away, they are old and unlikely to fight, they are old and probably easily intimidated, bridge players tend to be from a social strata with money and can therefore probably pay "fines" and they knew where they met on a regular basis.

Who would you rather arrest? The harmless bridge players or the rather more dangerous psychopaths behind this murder?

If I am HORATIO CAINE from CSI MIAMI the choice is obvious. If I am some mid-level Police Officer who lives in real life and not in movie and who has a wife and kids at home, the choice is obvious too.

[alanrchase]

...they first stated that...... 'he is the murderer'...

....now they are .......'considering issuing a warrant'.....because he was 'seen in a video with his girlfriend near the hotel'......???

... confusing....

Do you ever read a full report? Bit pointless asking as you are a TROLL who never replies. Took the bait.

[Traveller45]

37 million , chicken feed.

I mean, it's money for sure. 37 Miillion THB are roundabout 1 Million USD, right? People have been murdered for far less. On the other hand it doesn't seem quite enough to risk being put behind bars for life or executed (Mind you, if they catch that scum and he is guilty, I beg PM Prayuth to use his executive powers and have the guy killed, which he can do), neither does it seem an adequate amount for international mafia to get involved.

[Traveller45]

I dont think David Bernat was involved in any illegal deal. He was just a succesful young entrepreneur. He came from a humble background here in Spain but still he managed to get an engineering degree in La Salle (not easy) and an MBA in IESE(ranked between the top 10 business schools in the world). The average salary of IESE alumni with an MBA is around 140.000 USD a year!!! He worked for years with Boston Consulting Group and Oliver Wyman and then he started his own consulting business focused in systems integration...hardly the profile of a criminal (although everything is possible).

A different thing is that may be he chose the wrong friends in Bangkok. Segarra background was the opposite to Bernat´s...without specific education he tried many business before and they all went bad untill he filled for bankruptcy last year and left Spain vanishing in South Esat Asia. IMHO they met in BKK and became friends. Segarra was probably broken and desperate and when he found out his friend was so healthy he and his gf came up with a plan to steal his money. And so they did. He kidnapped David and probably under torture (or the threat to do it) made him transfer the money to his bank account. Once this done he just killed him. Probably this happened in a condo somewhere in BKK, so the only way he could dispose of the body was cutting it and smuggling the pieces out of the building. Then he just dropped the pieces in the river hoping that in a country like Thailand it would take ages to the cops to find out who the dead body was, if ever. He was only so brainless to keep David´s phone and answer the messages in Catalan, not a widely spread language, pretending he was the victim and thus shortening the suspects circle to those speaking Catalan in Bangkok.

This throws up the question of how to keep your fortune secret. It is most unfortunate, really. On media like LINKEDIN you want to show everybody how good you are at what you are doing so the headhunters will call you. Poor David did not understand the need yet to hire paid bodyguards to protect him. I am sure that 10K US per year will help you to an accomplished MUAY THAI fighter whose honour it is to protect you with his life...

[springheeled jack]

if the police are certain segarro is guilty they should issue a warrant for his arrest i believe the figure of 47 million baht was mentioned a motive for his grisly murder .

[springheeled jack]

if the police are certain segarro is guilty they should issue a warrant for his arrest i believe the figure of 47 million baht was mentioned a motive for his grisly murder .

[Traveller45]

The elephant in the room.... How was he compelled to follow instructions whilst in public?

Or have cctv shown all cash withdrawals to be by a third party?

Very good question, this, in fact. a) under torture it wont be difficult to get your PIN number ("If it's not correct, I WILL COME BACK...!!!") and some people are so easily intimidated by somebody with the bearing of Segarra that they will most readily do everything asked for even while in public. What puzzles me more is that he must have considered this guy his FRIEND. How is it even possible? Sure we don't really know what's hiding in somebody's brain, but a person a little bit travelled, as arguably David was, would not have confided his life to a guy who has TATOOS UP UNTIL HIS NECK. Somebody who is able to murder and DISMEMBER another in cold blood must have a certain personality, don't tell me it doesn't show after a few beers and evenings together.

Edited February 6, 2016 by Traveller45

[Buddumber]

He worked for years with Boston Consulting Group and Oliver Wyman and then he started his own consulting business focused in systems integration...hardly the profile of a criminal (although everything is possible).

he was living in sukhumvit, bkk. any chance he was linked to any bidders in the recent BIG money telecommunications license gamble? lets say for instance the dark horse outsider who landed a big one?

Edited February 6, 2016 by Buddumber

[Guest]

I dont think David Bernat was involved in any illegal deal. He was just a succesful young entrepreneur. He came from a humble background here in Spain but still he managed to get an engineering degree in La Salle (not easy) and an MBA in IESE(ranked between the top 10 business schools in the world). The average salary of IESE alumni with an MBA is around 140.000 USD a year!!! He worked for years with Boston Consulting Group and Oliver Wyman and then he started his own consulting business focused in systems integration...hardly the profile of a criminal (although everything is possible).

A different thing is that may be he chose the wrong friends in Bangkok. Segarra background was the opposite to Bernat´s...without specific education he tried many business before and they all went bad untill he filled for bankruptcy last year and left Spain vanishing in South Esat Asia. IMHO they met in BKK and became friends. Segarra was probably broken and desperate and when he found out his friend was so healthy he and his gf came up with a plan to steal his money. And so they did. He kidnapped David and probably under torture (or the threat to do it) made him transfer the money to his bank account. Once this done he just killed him. Probably this happened in a condo somewhere in BKK, so the only way he could dispose of the body was cutting it and smuggling the pieces out of the building. Then he just dropped the pieces in the river hoping that in a country like Thailand it would take ages to the cops to find out who the dead body was, if ever. He was only so brainless to keep David´s phone and answer the messages in Catalan, not a widely spread language, pretending he was the victim and thus shortening the suspects circle to those speaking Catalan in Bangkok.

This is a first. A well informed and sane summation of FACTS, not wild speculation and innuendo ... on Thai Visa!

Thank You!

Edited February 6, 2016 by Guest
Font.

[Johpa]

I dont think David Bernat was involved in any illegal deal. He was just a succesful young entrepreneur. He came from a humble background here in Spain but still he managed to get an engineering degree in La Salle (not easy) and an MBA in IESE(ranked between the top 10 business schools in the world). The average salary of IESE alumni with an MBA is around 140.000 USD a year!!! He worked for years with Boston Consulting Group and Oliver Wyman and then he started his own consulting business focused in systems integration...hardly the profile of a criminal (although everything is possible).

There are some who would argue that many a Boston Consulting group are rather criminal in nature, the best known critic being John Perkins and his somewhat controversial book "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" not to mention the Mitt Romneys in Bean Town.

[farcanell]

How many hours are left from the police boast that they would have the case solved in 48 hours?

Tick tock.

[hobobo]

Traveling between Burma (export capital of meth) to Iran (2m meth users) through Thailand. Strongest of ties between Burmese military (backers of meth trade militias) and top Thai power broker. Wild guess but this could have something to do with this. Clearly message sending way to dispose of body.

Well done, Sherlock! You got it in, what, one?

[CoreanoOzzie]

Find him and if he is guilty, hang him.

[emibel1]

The elephant in the room.... How was he compelled to follow instructions whilst in public?

Or have cctv shown all cash withdrawals to be by a third party?

Very good question, this, in fact. a) under torture it wont be difficult to get your PIN number ("If it's not correct, I WILL COME BACK...!!!") and some people are so easily intimidated by somebody with the bearing of Segarra that they will most readily do everything asked for even while in public. What puzzles me more is that he must have considered this guy his FRIEND. How is it even possible? Sure we don't really know what's hiding in somebody's brain, but a person a little bit travelled, as arguably David was, would not have confided his life to a guy who has TATOOS UP UNTIL HIS NECK. Somebody who is able to murder and DISMEMBER another in cold blood must have a certain personality, don't tell me it doesn't show after a few beers and evenings together.

Yes, but we all know that living as an expat brings you to mingle with people that dont necessarily belong to what you could call your circle, or at least with people with who you would never mix up in your own country. I dont mean bad people, just people from different circles that the one you belong...The Spanish colony in BKK is so small that when two Spanish meet they tend to show mutual sympathy. I live in Thailand for 12 years now and I am registered as resident number...353!!! So it could be perfectly normal that the met a night for drinks and they became "party friends"...Of course, you never think that the buddy sipping his beer next to you is actually thinking how to dispose of your dismembered body!

[iReason]

@Post 108

In response to your second challenge;

“I bet he said the word ookard in Thai…which translates as daring, audacious, brazen or outrageous.”

“there doesn't have to be a moral element involved.”

You bet?

That’s all you have?

By the way, it’s you, only you, who is attaching the “moral element”.

“I’m certain the translator simply chose outrageous over audacious or brazen.”

Certain? How?

And then they arbitrarily chose to attach it to this? : “We tend to believe there were Thai nationals involved because:..”

“Now don't forget translators in the electronic media have to work to very tight deadlines so I'm certain the translator simply chose outrageous over audacious or brazen.”

Certain. Again.

On what, are you basing these claims?

Nothing.

You are simply making things up to suit your view.

“Do you really think a senior Thai policeman is going to say, 'the crime was so outrageous…that Thais must be involved,’

rather than “the crime was so audacious that Thais must be involved' especially as he remarks the logistics meant it was likely Thais are involved.”

For the life of me, I can’t see the difference.

Splitting hairs aren’t you?

Not to worry, all talk like that, will most likely disappear soon. (Although, I can't be certain)

And It wouldn’t be the first time a senior police officer was so “audacious, brazen or outrageous” in his comments, now would it?

“The senior police officer on the island assured us the culprit could not have been a Thai person.”

“No Thai could possibly commit such a crime. he said”

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-29262496

Edited February 6, 2016 by iReason

[Khon Kaen Dave]

The RTB are considering????????

[Traveller45]

Find him and if he is guilty, hang him.

Feed to crocodiles, takes longer and is more painful

[stickylies]

True. Mistrust the friendly stranger at all times. Never give out private info money related.

[bannork]

@Post 108

In response to your second challenge;

“I bet he said the word ookard in Thai…which translates as daring, audacious, brazen or outrageous.”

“there doesn't have to be a moral element involved.”

You bet?

That’s all you have?

By the way, it’s you, only you, who is attaching the “moral element”.

“I’m certain the translator simply chose outrageous over audacious or brazen.”

Certain? How?

And then they arbitrarily chose to attach it to this? : “We tend to believe there were Thai nationals involved because:..”

“Now don't forget translators in the electronic media have to work to very tight deadlines so I'm certain the translator simply chose outrageous over audacious or brazen.”

Certain. Again.

On what, are you basing these claims?

Nothing.

You are simply making things up to suit your view.

“Do you really think a senior Thai policeman is going to say, 'the crime was so outrageous…that Thais must be involved,’

rather than “the crime was so audacious that Thais must be involved' especially as he remarks the logistics meant it was likely Thais are involved.”

For the life of me, I can’t see the difference.

Splitting hairs aren’t you?

Not to worry, all talk like that, will most likely disappear soon. (Although, I can't be certain)

And It wouldn’t be the first time a senior police officer was so “audacious, brazen or outrageous” in his comments, now would it?

“The senior police officer on the island assured us the culprit could not have been a Thai person.”

“No Thai could possibly commit such a crime. he said”

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-29262496

Dear me, here you go again desperately trying to link this totally unrelated case to the Koh Tao murders. And i'm not making things up, unlike you. Translators in the electronic media work to very tight deadlines, in this case ookard translates better as audacious than outrageous which carries a moral element of disgust,

If you can't see the difference you need to go back to school and why did you bother to try to link it ( unsuccessfully first time) to the Koh Tao murders?

Because what you were trying to say was, 'Look! The same policeman who was in charge of the Koh Tao case is saying this crime ( in Bangkok) is so outrageous Thais must be involved! Meaning Thais must be involved in the Khao Tao case too...

And what I'm telling you is he didn't say that at all, 'he said the crime was so audacious that Thais were probably involved because it involved detention, kidnapping, transporting body parts, ATM.etc but in fact maybe this Spanish suspect did the whole thing alone.

Jeez, be a man and move on.

[stickylies]

Find him and if he is guilty, hang him.

Feed to crocodiles, takes longer and is more painful

u wanna watch too ?

[farcanell]

@Post 108

In response to your second challenge;

I bet he said the word ookard in Thaiwhich translates as daring, audacious, brazen or outrageous.

there doesn't have to be a moral element involved.

You bet?

Thats all you have?

By the way, its you, only you, who is attaching the moral element.

Im certain the translator simply chose outrageous over audacious or brazen.

Certain? How?

And then they arbitrarily chose to attach it to this? : We tend to believe there were Thai nationals involved because:..

Now don't forget translators in the electronic media have to work to very tight deadlines so I'm certain the translator simply chose outrageous over audacious or brazen.

Certain. Again.

On what, are you basing these claims?

Nothing.

You are simply making things up to suit your view.

Do you really think a senior Thai policeman is going to say, 'the crime was so outrageousthat Thais must be involved,

rather than the crime was so audacious that Thais must be involved' especially as he remarks the logistics meant it was likely Thais are involved.

For the life of me, I cant see the difference.

Splitting hairs arent you?

Not to worry, all talk like that, will most likely disappear soon. (Although, I can't be certain)

And It wouldnt be the first time a senior police officer was so audacious, brazen or outrageous in his comments, now would it?

The senior police officer on the island assured us the culprit could not have been a Thai person.

No Thai could possibly commit such a crime. he said

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-29262496

Dear me, here you go again desperately trying to link this totally unrelated case to the Koh Tao murders. And i'm not making things up, unlike you. Translators in the electronic media work to very tight deadlines, in this case ookard translates better as audacious than outrageous which carries a moral element of disgust,

If you can't see the difference you need to go back to school and why did you bother to try to link it ( unsuccessfully first time) to the Koh Tao murders?

Because what you were trying to say was, 'Look! The same policeman who was in charge of the Koh Tao case is saying this crime ( in Bangkok) is so outrageous Thais must be involved! Meaning Thais must be involved in the Khao Tao case too...

And what I'm telling you is he didn't say that at all, 'he said the crime was so audacious that Thais were probably involved because it involved detention, kidnapping, transporting body parts, ATM.etc but in fact maybe this Spanish suspect did the whole thing alone.

Jeez, be a man and move on.

I emailed the reporter ( email address on link), a couple of days ago, and have asked him to shed light on the choice of wording... No response... Yet

And... Though endearing, this back and forth is indeed making us link the B2 crime to this one... Although the Thai police assisted here (linking the cases), , by their choice of officer to pursue the case, which would have been a deliberate action on their behalf, perhaps because of his performance in the B2 affair

Also... "Ireason" was not the first person to deliberately link the two cases together, that ship had already sailed prior to his first post ( this last comment pertains only to this thread), but bickering about what was actually written, verses what was actually meant, is speculation which continues to keep the focus on the B2 case... Well done, as that was seemingly a travesty of justice, that will hopefully be rectified at appeal, with the whole world watching