Koh Tao murder suspects confess, DNA matches, police chief says

Koh Tao murder suspects confess, DNA matches, police chief says

Police said Friday that two Myanmar nationals had confessed to killing a pair of British tourists on Koh Tao last month and that their DNA matched samples taken from one victim.

"Two Myanmar suspects have confessed to killing the pair," national police chief Somyot Pumpunmuang told AFP. "DNA test results (from the two men) confirmed that the same DNA was found in the body of the (female) victim."

Myanmar national Saw, one of two suspects in the murders of two British backpackers on Koh Tao, re-enacts his alleged attack on David Miller, as portrayed by a tourist on the island Friday. (Photo by Supapong Chaolan)

Pol Lt Gen Decha Butrnamphech, commissioner of the Provincial Police Region 8, confirmed to The Associated Press that DNA samples matched.

"Together with other evidence and (testimony from witnesses) that we have collected thoroughly throughout the investigation, we are convinced that these two migrant workers were the killers,'' Pol Lt Gen Decha said.

The two men were among three nationals from Myanmar held since Wednesday on suspicion of murdering David Miller, 24, and Hannah Witheridge, 23, on the Surat Thai province island Sept 15. Deputy national police chief Chakthip Chaichinda said Police inspected video footage from security cameras on Koh Tao and became suspicious of their activities.

"The third suspect said he left the crime scene before (the) murder took place," Pol Gen Somyot told AFP.

In a later interview with public broadcaster Thai PBS, Pol Gen Somyot said that police had gathered additional CCTV and eyewitness evidence to support the case.

Pol Maj Gen Kiattpoing Khawsamang, former Surat Thani police chief, who is one of the investigators, told AFP that the two men had also admitted to raping Witheridge.

"Both raped the female victim," he said, adding the British pair were killed with a wooden stick and a garden hoe, which was found bloodied at the scene.

Police travleled to Koh Tao with the two Myanmar nationals to recreate the crime scene as they waited for a local court to issue the warrant to charge the men.

One of the three suspects identified only as Cho (and originally transliterated as "Soe"), who was about 25 to 27 years old, was detained at the main wharf of Nakhon Surat Thani Municipality at 6am Thursday after he left Koh Tao on a ferry at 9pm on Wednesday.

The man was taken to Provincial Police Region 8 investigation centre where he was questioned for five hours. Members of the press were barred from approaching the investigation centre and prohibited from taking pictures.

Koh Tao murder suspects Wyn, left, and Saw re-enact their alleged killing of two British backpackers Friday. (Photo by Supapong Chaolan)

Thai authorities frequently accuse migrants from Myanmar and Cambodia of committing crimes in the kingdom, where they make up a vast, poorly paid and low-status workforce. But police have insisted they would not scapegoat anyone for the crime, despite coming under immense pressure to get a result as anger built over an apparently sluggish investigation in the days after the bodies were found.

Police officers refused to talk to reporters until Pol Lt Gen Decha emerged from the investigation centre at 3pm to say the case was expected to be solved soon. "I'm very satisfied with the investigation," he said.

Police have since DNA tested scores of people in and around Koh Tao and questioned hundreds of people - including friends of Miller - and Friday's apparent breakthrough will ease the scrutiny on the Thai force.

A source said Cho admitted he been captured on a surveillance camera but insisted he had nothing to do with the murder of the two Britons. Cho was being detained by the police Thursday on illegal entry charges.

Another informed source, meanwhile, said police on Sept 30 began paying special attention to 10 people of interest after discovering one of them was captured on a security camera at a convenience store on Sairee beach while buying a packet of L&M cigarettes.

The man was recorded on the camera at 11.12pm on Sept 14.

DNA samples taken from cigarette butts of the same L&M brand, which were found near the crime scene, matched those extracted from semen retrieved from Witheridge, the same source said.

The police previously learned from a number of staff at a resort near the crime scene that a group of three Myanmar nationals, who were believed to be close friends, liked to hang around together playing guitars on the beach, the source said.

Two of the three Myanmar men were identified as employees of a restaurant near the crime scene while one was confirmed to be Cho who hurriedly left Koh Tao shortly after he was released after being questioned earlier by police, the source said.

At 9pm on Wednesday, a police investigation team, detained the other two Myanmar nationals and took them to a safe house on the island.

Critics - especially among the British media - have accused Thai authorities of bungling the investigation in the near three weeks since the murders by chasing the wrong leads and failing to lock down the island in the hours following the killings.

With the peak tourist season fast approaching, Thai authorities are desperate to draw a line under the incident.

"I think the tourist confidence will improve," Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul, minister of Tourism and Sports told AFP, hours after the purported confessions. "The issue of tourist security is very important to us."

Ms Kobkarn made headlines of her own Tuesday when she suggested giving holidaymakers wristbands - which might eventually include GPS tracking - to keep them safe, setting off incredulous guffaws and ridicule worldwide.

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