CHIANG MAI: A man who was being treated for mental illness murdered both his first and second wife, who was pregnant, and threatened to cut up their bodies on Saturday night.
Police were informed of the deaths about 11pm. Pol Col Songkrit Ontakhrai, deputy chief of Chiang Mai police, and Pol Col Kamkaew Suyati, the police chief of Mae Ai district, led a team to a house at Ban Huay San in tambon Tha Ton.
The village is located near the border of Myanmar.
They called for reinforcements from the 3rd Army.
Police arrived to find the house locked and a man inside shouting that he had killed his two wives and was about to dismember their corpses.
As villagers and the police tried to persuade him to surrender, he yelled that if anyone tried to enter the premises he would open fire on them and throw a hand grenade.
After an hour of negotiation, the man gave himself up. He was detained at a nearby police station as police were concerned about reprisals from angry relatives of the two women.
The man was identified as Pakathu Sae Wu, 38. His first wife was Awuma Sae Lu, 39.
His second wife was Patchari Chanu, 20.
An initial investigation found that Pakathu had quarrelled with the two women out of suspicion they had been unfaithful to him and were in relationships with other men.
After the quarrel, he apparently got drunk and stabbed them to death.
Police found a bloodstained knife and hammer.
Villagers said the man suffered from a mental illness for which he was receiving treatment.