Police are seeking an arrest warrant for a Thai woman said to have masterminded the murder of a Taiwanese man in Bangkok, and are seeking help from Interpol to arrest another suspect from Vanuatu who reportedly fled the country.
The move follows the arrest late on Thursday of two men from Cameroon and Myanmar. Investigators from Bang Na station yesterday took the suspects -- Zwe Lin Pyae, 21, of Myanmar, and John Agbor, 40, of Cameroon -- to Phra Khanong Criminal Court for approval to detain them for 12 days while they investigate.
The officers opposed bail, citing the seriousness of the crime. Under the law, suspects can be detained for seven 12-day periods, or 84 days in total, before police must press charges or release them.
The men were arrested on Srinakarin Road in Bangkok late on Thursday night on suspicion of murdering the Taiwanese man at a hotel in Bang Na district.
They were charged with the premeditated murder of Chu Chiang Shen, 48, whose body was found in a room on the sixth floor of the Niran Grand Hotel on Udomsuk Soi 17 off Sukhumvit 103 (Udomsuk) Road, on Thursday morning.
Hotel staff found the body after the victim's friend reported that he could not be contacted by phone.
Pol Maj Gen Theeradet Thamsuthee, investigation chief of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, said the suspects, along with another unidentified European man who remains at large, targeted the victim's wealth based on information from a Thai woman who ordered the attack, claiming the victim was rich.
Police submitted evidence to the court on Friday to back their case for a warrant to arrest the Thai woman. As for the fourth suspect, police said he held Vanuatu citizenship and had fled Thailand. Police are coordinating with Interpol to seek his arrest.
Meanwhile, the wife of Mr Agbor insisted her husband was not involved in the slaying and that he had been friends with the victim for a long time.