The Bangkok Post on July 19 quoted General Witthawat Chinkham, commander of Team 5 of the Bangkok Metropolitan Police Department, as saying they were investigating whether the cyanide was smuggled into Thailand or purchased locally.
“Police are awaiting the results of all forensic examinations before deciding whether to call anyone in for further questioning,” Mr Chinkham said.
Thai authorities are also trying to contact the sister of one of the victims, who returned to Vietnam on July 10 and was initially identified as the seventh person in the group.
Cyanide is believed to have been put into the tea cups. Photo: Bangkok Post
Chulalongkorn Chanchai Sittipunt Hospital director said on July 18 that the autopsies of the six deceased people had been completed.
Police believe Sherine Chong, one of six people found dead at the Grand Hyatt Erawan hotel, poisoned the others and then killed herself. The motive is believed to be related to a large debt.
General Theeradet Thumsuthee, chief of the Bangkok Metropolitan Police Department's investigation department, said earlier at Lumpini police station that they had questioned the daughter of one of the victims as well as other witnesses.
"The case could have stemmed from a debt problem. There is no other possibility. The culprits are among the six people who died because they were the only ones who entered the room. There was no one else," said General Theeradet.
Six people were found dead in a room on the fifth floor of the Grand Hyatt Erawan hotel in central Bangkok on the evening of July 16.
Two of the Vietnamese are American citizens and the rest are Vietnamese citizens.
A seventh Vietnamese woman booked the room next door. Police believe she is the sister of one of the victims.
Director of the autopsy center at Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Medicine, Kornkiat Vongpaisarnsin, said there was cyanide in the blood samples of the six people who died.
Investigators have invited Tien Thang Pham, the ex-husband of Nguyen Thi Phuong Lan, one of the six people killed, to Lumpini police station for questioning on July 17, a police source said.
Sources revealed that Mr. Tien Thang Pham was traveling to Japan and had a video call with his ex-wife before the murder occurred.
Thai police have also contacted law enforcement officials in the United States for more information about Sherine Chong, who was the subject of a police complaint filed by other Vietnamese in San Francisco more than 10 years ago.
They accused Sherine of defrauding them by promising to help them obtain US citizenship. However, US prosecutors eventually decided to drop the case.
Source: https://nld.com.vn/tham-an-nguoi-viet-o-thai-lan-canh-sat-co-gang-lien-lac-voi-nguoi-thu-7-196240719073043852.htm
Comment (0)