Thai police believe that at least three men of Chinese nationality were involved in the kidnap and murder of a Chinese student in Nonthaburi province and that they left Thailand for Chengdu in China’s Sichuan province on March 30th.
Pol Maj-Gen Noppasilp Poonsawat, deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, said today (Sunday) that 22-year-old Jin Can, a Chinese music student at Bangkok Thonburi University, is believed to have been kidnapped from the university on March 28th. At about 1.30am on March 29th, a CCTV system captured an image of a red Mazda vehicle in Bang Yai. On April 1st, the body of the student was left in a plantation in Village 6 of Bang Yai district, where it was subsequently found by a villager.
The senior police officer further said the CCTV system also shows three men of Chinese appearance entering a convenience store near a housing estate in Bang Yai, adding that witnesses confirm that the men had visited the store on several occasions.
Police think that the three Chinese men might have been living in the housing estate and have discovered that they had rented a house in the estate, which they vacated on March 29th at about 3pm.
The red Mazda car was rented from a car rental service on New Phetchaburi Road and was returned on March 30th, said Noppasilp, adding that he suspects more Chinese nationals are involved, who were responsible for renting the house and car for the other suspects.
He said that police are gathering evidence to seek warrants for the arrests of the suspects.
Jin Can’s body was found yesterday (April 1st) in a bag in a plantation in Village 6, Bang Yai sub-district, by a villager who alerted the local police. Knife wounds were found on the body and a sheet was tied around the neck. Forensics officers estimate that the victim died 3-4 days ago.
The villager said he sensed a strong odour of decomposition as he was riding a motorcycle and stopped to investigate. He said he found the body in a ditch.
Police at Thammasala police station received a formal report on March 31st (Friday), from Mingkwan Narkhirun, an advisory lecturer at Bangkok Thonburi University, that one of his music students, Jin Can, was reported by her parents to have been kidnapped in Thailand.
Mingkwan told the police that he received a call from the student’s father in China, saying that a stranger called him last Wednesday (March 29th), using her daughter’s VSAT application, demanding that a ransom of 500,000 yuan (~2.5 million baht) be wired to Bank of China account, number 6217853600064XXX196, in the name of “Wand Feihu”, in exchange for the freedom of his daughter. The stranger also sent an image of the student with her hands and legs tied.
He said that the father did not pay the ransom, fearing that it was just a prank.
The lecturer said that the university ordered an investigation after receiving the call and discovered that Jin Can had last been seen at the fountain of the university at between 5pm and 7pm on March 28th.
Police checked the CCTV system at the university and discovered that she had left the campus in a taxi, which took her to the Central Westgate shopping mall in Bang Yai.
