The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) has been ordered to re-open the investigation into the murder of a Japanese tourist in Sukhothai province more than a decade ago.
Justice Minister Somsak Thepsuthin on Friday told the DSI, an agency under his ministry, to once again look into the unsolved murder of Tomoko Kawashita, and try to shed new light on it.
The minister admitted that his being an MP from the same northern province played a part in the decision to reopen the case.
Tomoko, 27, was stabbed to death and robbed near Wat Saphan Hin in Muang district of Sukhothai on May 25, 2007. After police made no progress in the case, the DSI took it over on May 31, 2013. It also failed to find a suspect.
The murdered woman's parents travelled to Thailand in 2015, seeking answers from the DSI about the death of their daughter.
The Central Institute of Forensic Science, also under the ministry, conducted DNA tests on 300 samples, and a 2-million-baht reward was offered for evidence leading to the apprehension of the killer or killers. All without result.
Mr Somsak said DSI investigators should expand the scope of the investigation from the place where the body was found to other areas. This could result in previously undiscovered evidence being found. The unresolved case was damaging the country's tourist image, he added.
The statute of limitations in the case expires in 2027.