KHON KAEN: Local police insisted on Tuesday that a Lao man brutally killed in the northeastern province recently was involved in the illicit drug business.
The message was given to Khamphai Phanthongdee, deputy Lao consul-general in Khon Kaen, who met police at the Ubon Ratana station in Ubon Ratana district Tuesday.
Mr Khamphai was there to inquire about progress in the investigation into the death of Suthad Thadjampa, a native of Pak Ngum village in Vientiane. The 49-year-old man was found dead, with his throat slashed and his face battered, near a pond in Ban Khun Dan village, tambon Ban Dong, Ubon Ratana district on Sunday.
Mr Kamphai said after meeting local police that the investigation had made progress and the culprits would be arrested soon.
Pol Lt Col Yuthakorn Wongwian, chief of the Ubon Ratana station, said Suthad had been in Thailand for more than a decade and lived with his Thai wife in Nam Phong district, Khon Kaen, for five years.
He had worked as a construction contractor, the police chief told the Lao consul, but he had also been involved in narcotics - and a conflict in the illicit business had led to his murder.
On Sunday police arrested a suspect in the case and initially charged him with using methamphetamine. Police were gathering evidence in order to charge him with the murder, Pol Lt Col Yuthakorn said.
Ms Phrairat Khomkham, the 44-year-old Thai wife, said Suthad had been hanging out with a new friend for about a month before the murder, and the friend had frequently called her husband for nighttime meetings. The same friend made such a call just before the killing, she said.
On Monday Pol Col Jarasphat Sutayasoranakhom, deputy commander of Khon Kaen police, said a number of drug addicts had told police they had received drugs from Suthad, and more than two people murdered him.
They used construction materials from the victim's vehicle as weapons to kill him, Pol Col Jarasphat said, slashing his throat and striking him in the face.
Police ruled out robbery as a motive because the dead man's truck was found burnt-out in Khao Suan Kwang district, he said.