SURAT THANI: The Koh Samui Provincial Court has approved a warrant for the arrest of a Spanish chef, suspected to have killed and dismembered the body of his Colombian surgeon lover in a hotel room on Koh Phangan island.
Pol Lt Gen Surapong Thanomjit, the Provincial Police Region 8 commissioner, said yesterday the court approval came after a DNA test of human parts found by rubbish collectors at a dump on the island on Thursday proved to have come from Edwin Arrieta Arteaga, 44, a Colombian national.
The men were believed to have been involved in a relationship for about one year.
The Spanish suspect, Daniel Sancho Bronchalo, 29, has been detained at Phangan station.
He has been charged with premeditated murder, concealing and removing body parts to cover up the death or the cause of death.
Pol Lt Gen Surapong said that after admitting to killing and dismembering the Colombian, the suspect appeared relaxed.
Provincial and tourist police had questioned the Spaniard and gathered evidence in the case.
Only the body parts which the suspect said had been dumped into the sea in a duffel bag had yet to be found. A search was continuing, he added.
In a statement given to police, the suspect claimed Arrieta came to his hotel room on Thursday and asked for sex.
The Spaniard became angry and hit him, causing Arrieta to fall and strike his head against the bathtub, causing his death.
However, Pol Lt Gen Surapong said investigators were not convinced by his statement and had learned that Mr Sancho asked Arrieta to come to Koh Phangan for the Full Moon party and that aside from their relationship turning sour, money and property might also be factors.
Pol Col Panya Nirattimanon, the Koh Phangan police chief, said the suspect is the son of the Spanish actor Rodolfo Sancho Aguirre and actress Silvia Bronchalo.
His father was shocked on learning that his son had become a murder suspect and is travelling to the country to see his son.