Police are hunting three Myanmar workers suspected of murdering a Hmong family on their remote plantation in Tak.
The family of five, identified as Jia Saengsawang, 34, a Chiang Thong native; Chao Manpatanakarn, 46; and three children aged three months, seven years and 10 years are believed to have been murdered on Sunday, as relatives of the victims lost contact with them from that day.
Their bodies and some weapons were found on Wednesday near the Nakhiri stream, about 10 kilometres from the centre of Sri Khiri Rak, a village in tambon Chiang Thong.
The victims had been shot and stabbed, and the spent cartridge of a 9mm bullet and black plastic bags containing ginger were found at the scene, an earlier report said.
Pol Maj Gen Phokphapob Bodeepitak, commander of the Tak Provincial Police, led an investigation team from Division 6 yesterday to search for more evidence at the scene.
According to the report, the prime murder suspects are Myanmar workers who worked on the victims' ginger plantation.
The investigation then led to a warrant against three Myanmar workers, led by a man identified as Kao. They are now on the run but are believed to be hiding in Baan Mae Lamao Noi, a village near Mae Sod and Umphang districts.
According to investigators, their motive may have been because Chao allegedly scolded them regularly and threatened them with a 9mm pistol.
Chao had also forbidden the workers from returning home after the harvest season, according the investigation.
However, other possible motives, including a conflict between Jia and her former husband and Chao facing an arrest warrant on a narcotics charge, have not been dropped from the investigation, according to police.
More than 20 witnesses, most of them the victims' relatives, have been invited for questioning.