Another Suspect in the 'Pattaya Murder Case' Arrested in Cambodia

One of the suspects who fled to Cambodia in connection with the murder of a Korean tourist in Pattaya, Thailand, has been apprehended locally.

The National Police Agency arrested suspect A, who is accused of murdering a Korean tourist in his 30s along with two accomplices in Pattaya and disposing of the body in a reservoir (charges include murder and corpse abandonment), at 1 a.m. on the 14th (Korean time) in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

The police detected circumstances indicating that A had fled from Thailand to Cambodia, obtained an Interpol red notice, and from the 13th began actively collecting, sharing, and analyzing intelligence together with police attach?s dispatched to Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar.

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During this process, at around 9 p.m. on the 13th, intelligence was received that a Korean believed to be A was spotted in Phnom Penh, which was relayed to the Cambodian police attach?.

The Cambodian police attach? immediately launched an arrest operation with local police and apprehended A at a lodging facility in Phnom Penh.

A is currently detained by the Cambodian police, and the National Police Agency plans to negotiate with the Cambodian and Thai police agencies regarding his repatriation to Korea.

Meanwhile, among the three Korean suspects in this case, one who fled to Korea was urgently arrested on the 12th at his residence in Jeongeup, Jeonbuk.

They are accused of kidnapping Korean male tourist B (34) from a club in Bangkok on the morning of the 3rd, taking him by rental car to Pattaya, murdering him, and on the 4th, placing his body along with other objects into a reservoir and abandoning it.

The local police reported that B’s fingers found in the reservoir were mutilated. Thai police are focusing on the possibility that the perpetrators mutilated the body to make it difficult to identify B.

In this regard, B’s sister and cousin arrived in Thailand the day before, and local police plan to confirm the identity by comparing their DNA with that of B’s remains.

Earlier, on the 7th, B’s mother received a threatening phone call from an unknown man stating, “B caused damage by throwing my drugs into the river, so pay 3 million baht (about 110 million KRW) as ransom, or your son will be killed.”

However, B’s family and acquaintances told the Thai police that he had no connection to drugs.

Also, a Thai acquaintance who last saw B at a club in Bangkok on the night of the 2nd testified to local police that B was not acquainted with the suspects and met them for the first time at that club.

The police are continuing to pursue the whereabouts of the remaining accomplice through international cooperation.

A National Police Agency official explained, “This case reaffirms our government and police’s principle to relentlessly pursue and punish heinous crimes against our citizens beyond borders.”

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