Police on Friday identified and released photos of a Spanish man considered the prime suspect in the grisly killing and dismemberment of a compatriot whose body parts were found in the Chao Phraya River.
Investigators distributed images of Artur Segarra, 37, and said they are trying to track down the alleged killer of David Bernat. They are confident he hasn't left the country.
An undated Royal Thai Police handout made available on Feb 5 shows a photo taken from security camera of Artur Segarra, a Spanish national from Barcelona, suspected to be involved in a Spanish businessman murder case in Bangkok. (EPA photo)
Pol Gen Panya Mamen, a senior adviser to the Royal Thai Police Office, said at a news briefing today that Mr Segarra is believed to still be in Thailand due to records of cash withdrawals made from ATMs in Wang Noi district in Ayutthaya, and another in the Suwinthawong area in Bangkok late Thursday afternoon.
Anybody who comes across the suspect should contact police, he said, adding that Mr Segarra was seen with a Thai woman and in a black Isuzu pickup truck.
He is suspected of either being the mastermind behind a plot to kidnap, extort and kill Spanish businessman Bernat, and/or just the killer, said the police office, which has taken point in the investigation. Money is the likely motive for the killing and up to 10 Thais could be accomplices, including those who opened bank accounts for the Spaniard, he added.
Police have found two transfers of a total 37 million baht from the dead man's bank account to the suspect's Singapore account, according to Pol Gen Panya.
Although investigators don't yet have enough proof to bring murder charges against Mr Segarra, they will hold him on immigration violations pending further investigation. His visa expired on Dec 10 and immigration found he has been in and out of the country 13 times, according to the police.
Police are also trying to determine the locations of Bernat's kidnapping, confinement and murder, and places where the body parts were dropped.
The 40-year-old Spaniard disappeared from his apartment in Khlong Toey Jan 20. Body parts found along the Chao Phraya River since Saturday were later confirmed as his.
Bernat was an adviser to a foreign company and had travelled through Thailand 271 times over the past decade, mostly to Myanmar. The most recent visit was on Jan 19 when he arrived in Bangkok from Tehran, police said.
Forensic officials believed that he was killed between Jan 25 and 27.