An Indonesian woman has been arrested on charges of drugging and robbing two foreign men in Chiang Mai in August. One of them died.
Linda Wellish, 54, admitted to stealing the money, but denied drugging them, police said.
Ms Wellish was wanted on two arrest warrants issued by the Chiang Mai Provincial Court on Aug 29 for murder, robbery and illegal use of other people’s electronic cards.
She was apprehended entering through Pong Namron immigration checkpoint in Chanthaburi on Nov 18 and taken to Muang police station in Chiang Mai, Pol Maj Gen Churat Panngao, deputy chief of Provincial Police Region 5, told a news conference on Wednesday.
The charges relate to the death of an Indian man and the drugging and robbery of an American man at different locations in Chiang Mai province in August this year.
The Indian man, Ammad Tario Bhat, 45, was found dead at a hotel room on Chang Khan Road on Aug 20. Police found no bruises on his naked body, but saliva had drooled out of his mouth.
Footage from the hotel’s security cameras gave police investigators the suspect’s description, Thai media reported.
In the second case, US national Gene Ber Ulfgang (not official spelling), 69, was found unconscious on a bed at a luxury hotel in downtown Chiang Mai late on the night of Aug 21. He was admitted to the intensive care unit of a hospital for three days and treated for poisoning before recovering. The hotel’s security cameras showed the same woman entering his room.
Police investigators allege the suspect gave cups of coffee laced with chemicals to the two victims before stealing their cash, valuables and credit cards. One of the credit cards was used to buy a 400,000 baht diamond ring at a shopping mall in Chiang Mai.
Ms Wellish left the country through Songkhla’s Sadao checkpoint, Pol Maj Gen Churat said.
During interrogation, the suspect admitted she had slept with each of the victims and stolen from them. She insisted that she had not drugged them, he said.
Police believed the same woman had committed similar crimes on three previous occasions - one case involving a British man in Khon Kaen on March 24 last year; the second case in Udon Thani with a German man being the victim on June 28 this year; and the third case involving another German man at a hotel in Bangkok’s Sukhumvit area on July 9.
Police believed she had returned to Thailand with the intention of commiting similar crimes during the Loy Krathong festival.