
The Metropolitan Police Bureau (MPB) said the case of a missing Chinese woman in Bangkok was not related to any international crime syndicates, limiting the motive to personal matters.
Pol Maj Gen Noppasil Poolsawat, MPB deputy chief, said on Sunday that investigators had decided the motives behind the disappearance of Yan Ruimin, 38, were related to either theft or a personal affair.
An investigation showed that Ms Yan met a man at Soi Sukhumvit 12 to go shopping at Klong Toey Market in Klong Toey district. The meeting was consensual, Pol Maj Gen Noppasil added.
Pol Maj Gen Noppasil said the claim that Ms Yan was to be ransomed by a crime syndicate was a miscommunication between her relatives and her friend, Cai Boxuan.
Based on their conversations on WeChat, Mr Cai told Ms Yan’s relatives to prepare at least 1 million yuan (5 million baht) for ransom, as he believed that Ms Yan might have faced danger before she went missing, said Pol Maj Gen Noppasil.
A report on Ms Yan’s disappearance surfaced when Mr Cai told police at Bang Rak station in Bangkok on Friday that his friend was missing.
The last time Mr Cai heard from Ms Yan was on June 30, when she told him that she would go to Phuket on July 2, police said.
However, human remains believed to belong to Ms Yan were found dumped in a deserted area of Chachoengsao town on Saturday, 50km east of Bangkok.
The remains were badly decomposed, and police were waiting for the results of a DNA test, Pol Maj Gen Noppasil said.
Pol Maj Gen Supichai Limsiwawong, commander of the Police General Hospital’s Institute of Forensic Medicine, said the autopsy results are expected to be concluded in a week.
However, traces of plastic surgery on the the skeleton are similar to Ms Yan’s surgery record, he said.