SONGKHLA: Police are questioning a Chinese national believed to have met a Chinese woman at a popular scenic waterfall the afternoon before her dead body was found there on Thursday last week.
Deputy Tourist Police chief Surachate Hakphan said on Monday the Chinese man, whose name was withheld, was brought from Krabi for questioning at the provincial tourist police division office in Hat Yai district in Songkhla over the death of 28-year-old tourist Lei Tian.
Pol Maj Gen Surachate said the man denied any knowledge of the death, although he admitted visiting the waterfall. All information stored in his mobile phone had been deleted, he added.
The suspect was being held pending further interrogation.
Lei was found dead in a rock pool partway down the seven-tiered Ton Nga Chang waterfall in Hat Yai on Thursday.
Investigators have found that the man and the dead Chinese tourist were friends and worked at the same office in Kuala Lumpur.
The man drove a white Honda car bearing Malaysian plates from the Malaysian capital to Thailand and stayed at a hotel in Hat Yai. He then drove to Ton Nga Chang on Wednesday. Lei took a plane to Hat Yai and caught a taxi to meet him at the waterfall that day. (continues below)
Personal belongings of Lei Tian found in the garbage bins in the waterfall area. (Photo by Assawin Pakkawan)
The taxi driver told police that he overheard Lei talking to someone on her phone. The cabbie said she told him not to wait for her after seeing the Honda.
A check with the park officials found the Honda was the last vehicle to leave the waterfall on Wednesday. Lei's body was found the next afternoon.
The man then checked out of his Hat Yai hotel and stayed in Songkhla's Muang district before going to Krabi.
Police said they had not ruled out murder, particularly because the woman's two bags, mobile phone and other items were found in garbage bins at the waterfall. The SIM card was missing from her phone.
Investigators were still awaiting for the autopsy report from Hat Yai Hospital before deciding if her death was an accident or murder. They were also trying to recover information from her phone.