2024-07-20 00:09:24
Tests revealed deadly chemical substances that prevent the body from using oxygen in thermoses and six cups, and autopsies on six bodies revealed signs of poisoning. Based on an interview with a relative, police believe the deaths may have been related to a business dispute.
Thai authorities said the dead were Vietnamese and two had American citizenship, and that the FBI was assisting in the investigation.
Thai police said they believe the poisonings occurred on Monday afternoon after the group ordered food and English tea to their room on the fifth floor of the Grand Hyatt Erawan hotel in Bangkok’s commercial district.
When room service workers arrived, they saw only one of the six people, a 56-year-old woman, police said. According to Metropolitan Police Bureau Deputy Commander Noppasin Poonsawat, she received food and drinks and told hotel staff that there was no need to serve tea.
Soon after, CCTV footage showed all six members of the group gathering outside the room and then going inside – the last time they were seen alive.
“It all started after 1:57 p.m. (Monday), when the hotel staff brought six cups of tea, a cup of milk and two thermoses to the room. We found cyanide on six cups. “According to the CCTV footage, no one else – apart from the six members of the group – entered the room and none of them were seen leaving after 2:17 pm,” Poonsawat said.
The group of three women and three men were found dead the next day, late Tuesday afternoon. They were discovered by a room service employee, as the persons remaining in the room were late checking out of the hotel.
Police said two members of the group, a married couple, lent 10 million. Thai baht ($278,000) to another member of the group to invest in a business project to build a hospital in Japan, and it turned out that there was a dispute over money. The couple ran a construction company in Vietnam.
It appears that the plates of food they ordered remained untouched and were still sealed with cling film. Their luggage was packed. Police said no illegal substances were found in their luggage, which was searched overnight.
The media identified the group as Vietnamese citizens: 46 years old. Thi Nguyen Phuong, her husband 49 years old. Hong Pham Thanh, 47 Thi Nguyen Phuong Lan, 37 years old Dinh Tran Phu and US Citizens 56 Sherine Chong and Dang Hung Vanas.
Police are examining wider CCTV footage to determine their time in Bangkok. The FBI was helping the investigation because two of the individuals had US citizenship, Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin revealed.
S. Thavisin then said that this case is not related to terrorism and that the meeting with the Russian energy minister held on Wednesday at the same hotel “probably will not be affected.”
“The incident is not related to terrorism or a lack of security measures, so I think everything will go according to plan,” he said.
Police were looking for a seventh person who was included in the group’s booking but did not check in; however, she said on Wednesday that the seventh person was the younger sister of one of the women and that she had returned home to Vietnam before the incident.
This is not the first high-profile killing involving cyanide in Thailand. Last year, a Thai woman accused of poisoning people with cyanide was charged with 14 murders, one of the country’s biggest suspected serial killings.
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2024-07-20 00:09:24