Thai police found the body of a missing South Korean man in a plastic barrel filled with cement in a reservoir in Pattaya, following an investigation into a kidnapping and ransom case. The victim, identified by Thai police as Mr. Eui Jong Roh, 34, had been missing since May 7th after his mother received a ransom demand of 3 million baht from his kidnappers. The kidnappers threatened to kill, dismember, and sell Mr. Roh’s organs on the black market if the ransom was not paid by May 8th. Thai police began an investigation and interrogated the victim’s Thai wife (name withheld for her safety) and learned that the wife met Mr. Roh for the last time on May 2nd at a pub in the RCA area in Bangkok. After reviewing CCTV footage on May 3rd, police found two Korean men accosting and forcefully taking Mr. Roh into a car around 2 AM. It was found that the car in question was a rental car. They then headed towards Pattaya before changing to a new rental vehicle, a pickup truck, and rented accommodation near the Mapprachan Reservoir.On May 4th around 9 PM, CCTV footage captured the pickup truck leaving the accommodation with a black sheet covering its bed.
Thai police found that the suspects had previously bought a plastic barrel from a local store. The truck then arrived at the Mapprachan Reservoir where the body of Mr. Roh stuffed in the barrel was abandoned in the water.The body of the victim was discovered on May 11th by Pattaya police. Authorities then interrogated a local store owner, 31-year-old Ms. Nitaya Janprung, who revealed that on May 3rd, a foreigner arrived at her shop in a four-door white pickup truck to buy a large plastic barrel, two rolls of nylon ropes, and scissors. The man did not show any signs of suspicion. CCTV cameras were able to clearly record him. An autopsy is being conducted to determine the exact cause of Mr. Roh’s death. Police are investigating and have not yet made any arrests.
credit TPN
