A second South Korean suspect in the murder of a man found dead in a concrete-filled barrel near Pattaya has been arrested in Phnom Penh and is being handed over to Korean authorities.
Pol Maj Gen Noppasil Poonsawat, commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, announced on Tuesday that Cambodian authorities had captured Lee Young Jin in the Cambodian capital on Monday.
Lee will be handed over to the Gyeongnam Provincial Police Agency in South Korea, he said.
The 27-year-old suspect was arrested at a lodging around midnight following a tip-off about his presence in the area, Yonhap news agency reported, citing unnamed officials.
He is the second suspect to be apprehended in this case, following the capture of Lee Roun, who is in his 20s, at his house in Jeongeup city in southwestern South Korea on Sunday after fleeing Thailand.
Thai and South Korean police are now searching for the third and final suspect, identified as Kim Hyeonng Won, who is believed to have crossed illegally into Myanmar from Thailand.
Pol Maj Gen Noppasil said arrest warrants would be issued for the three suspects on charges of premeditated murder, illegal detention, and concealing a body.
These charges are related to the murder of Roh Eui Jong, 34, whose body was discovered on Saturday in a plastic barrel dumped in Map Prachan reservoir on the outskirts of Pattaya in Chon Buri’s Bang Lamung district on May 5.
The body was confirmed to be that of Roh Eui Jong on Tuesday through DNA comparison with samples from his father and elder sister, Pol Maj Gen Noppasil said. His sister also identified him from physical marks, including a scar.
Roh was reported missing on May 3 after arriving in Thailand on April 30. He was allegedly abducted by the three men in Bangkok. His mother sought help from the South Korean embassy in Thailand after receiving a LINE call demanding 3 million baht in ransom for his release.
The trio are also wanted by South Korean police investigating the same case.
According to Yonhap, the first detained suspect will be formally charged as an accessory to the crime rather than for murder. During questioning, he denied involvement in the actual murder.
