Police are investigating the death of a Taiwanese man who was found bound and gagged in a ransacked hotel room in Bang Na district on Thursday morning.

The 48-year-old man was found dead in a room on the sixth floor of the Niran Grand Hotel on Udomsuk Soi 17 off Sukhumvit 103 (Udomsuk) Road, at around 10.30am.

Police found the body lying face-down beside a bed. The hands and legs were tied with belts and ropes, with the hands bound behind the back. The head was wrapped tightly in a plastic sheet, with plastic tape around the nose and neck area. Investigators believe the man had been tortured.

The room had been ransacked and there were traces of a fight. There were bloodstains on a safe.

The victim’s personal belongings including his computer and mobile phone were not found.

Hotel staff said the man had checked in alone at 12.43pm on Tuesday. 

Forensic police said the man had died at least eight hours before the body was found. Hotel maids said they had seen him using his laptop around noon on Wednesday.

Detectives have learned that the man arrived in the country at about 1am on Tuesday and checked into the hotel on Tuesday afternoon. Two Thai women met him at the hotel on Tuesday night.

They also learned that three men, one of them Asian, might have been involved with the victim, who reportedly had served time in Taiwan for fraud and human trafficking.