Police look at resale of cyanide

Police will press charges against a company that imported cyanide compounds and sold them to other retailers, after an investigation determined that alleged serial killer, Sararat "Aem Cyanide" Rangsiwuthaporn, had purchased the cyanide she used to kill at least 13 people from a reseller.

Deputy national police chief, Pol Gen Surachate Hakparn, met the deputy director of the Department of Industrial Works (DIW), Pornyod Klankrong, on Thursday to discuss the country's regulations on cyanide imports as public pressure mounts for the police to prevent such an incident from happening again.

The meeting, he said, was meant to find ways to plug loopholes in Thailand's Hazardous Substances Act, and to see if there were any companies which were illegally reselling cyanide they had lawfully imported, to other parties.

He said authorities have enough evidence to press charges against one company, which police believe resold the cyanide it acquired to other parties.

The company had brought in 1,600 bottles of cyanide, 100 of which ended up with six other retailers.

"It is against the law because the sale of cyanide is restricted to research purposes or factory operations,'' he said.

According to Pol Gen Surachate, a police investigation has found that at least nine other people had bought cyanide in a similar manner to Ms Sararat in order to commit suicide.

He said the police would continue their investigation and submit their report to the DIW as soon as the probe wraps up.