Songkhla: Songkhla Provincial Police investigators have apprehended a couple responsible for abandoning the bodies of illegal workers in a forest along the Asian Highway in Bang Klam District. The couple admitted that the workers had fainted and died, leading them to dispose of the bodies in the forest.
According to Thai News Agency, the investigation team from the Songkhla Provincial Police Investigation Division secured an arrest warrant from the Songkhla Provincial Court to detain Mr. Thira, 46, and Ms. Sarina, 22. The couple was arrested at their residence in Soi Santirat, Village 2, Tambon Khuan Lang, Amphoe Hat Yai, Songkhla Province. They face charges of jointly concealing, hiding, moving, or destroying corpses to obscure the cause of death, and for sheltering and assisting illegal aliens to evade arrest.
This case traces back to the discovery of an illegal Myanmar worker's body, found dumped in a forest along the Asian Road in Bang Klam District, Songkhla Province, on February 8. The body, encased in a white fertilizer sack, was shirtless and dressed in sweatpants, with a blue straw rope tied to its wrist-a marker used by smuggling gangs to differentiate groups during transit.
On February 9, the Songkhla Immigration Bureau and the Songkhla Provincial Police apprehended a small white Isuzu truck, with Bangkok registration, as it transported 33 illegal immigrant workers. The driver, Mr. Wisessak, 56, was detained on Asia Road in Tambon Kuha Tai, Amphoe Rattaphum, Songkhla Province.
Upon questioning, Mr. Wisessak confessed to transporting the Burmese body found in the forest. He claimed the worker was alive on February 6 but fainted en route and was left at a rented house in Khuan Lang sub-district, a temporary shelter for foreign workers being smuggled to Malaysia. Mr. Wisessak denied disposing of the body.
Subsequent investigations led the Songkhla Provincial Police Investigation Team to critical evidence, including CCTV footage of a suspicious pickup truck parked near the forest at around 1 a.m. on April 6. They traced the vehicle's route, discovering a motorcycle ahead of it at a red light intersection on the Tha Thon route in Khuan Lang Subdistrict, Hat Yai District. This led them to identify the culprits as Mr. Thira and Ms. Sarina.
Mr. Thira and Ms. Sarina admitted to disposing of the body. Mr. Thira drove the pickup truck with the body, while Ms. Sarina scouted the route for police checkpoints on a motorcycle.
Mr. Thira also disclosed his role in caring for illegal Myanmar migrants at a rented house in Tambon Khuan Lang, Amphoe Hat Yai, for a daily wage of 500 baht. He recounted that one worker fainted and died, prompting him to wait until nightfall to dispose of the body, which they wrapped in a sack and sleeping mat before dumping it in the forest. Afterward, they cleaned the rented house and destroyed evidence before vacating the premises.
The couple was taken to Bang Klam Police Station for further legal action. Police seized the black Isuzu pickup truck used for transporting the body, along with the motorcycle, helmet, and clothes worn by Ms. Sarina on the night of the incident, as evidence.