Narcotics police are investigating possible links between the suspects of the dismembered body case in Khon Kaen and regional drug networks.
Some of the suspects in the murder of a karaoke bar worker late last month are drug users, according to narcotics police.
Pol Lt Gen Sommai Kongwisaisuk, commander of the Narcotics Suppression Bureau, said on Monday police were investigating the connection between the suspects and the network of the alleged Lao drug lords Xaysana Keopimpha, who was arrested in Bangkok in April, and Srisook.
"As of now, we haven't found links with the Wah's drug network. However, the choice of their escape destination perplexed us," he said, adding police believed someone had advised them where to go.
"They didn't flee to Laos, an obvious choice as it is closer. Instead, they went North to Myanmar," he said.
The body of Warisara Klinjui, a karaoke bar workers in Khon Kaen, was found chopped into two and stashed in two plastic bags and buried in a vacant plot in Khon Kaen's Khao Suan Kwang district late last month.
A man was arrested in Laos and his girlfriend was nabbed in Ubon Ratchathani later. The three other female suspects fled to Myanmar and were taken into custody early this month.