The group that kidnapped, murdered, and mutilated the body of a Korean tourist in Pattaya, Thailand, before disposing of the remains in a drum, has been completely apprehended five months after the crime.
According to the Criminal Investigation Unit of the Gyeongnam Provincial Police Agency, 39-year-old A, 27-year-old B, and 25-year-old C are facing charges including robbery and murder, concealment of a corpse, destruction of a corpse, computer fraud, and attempted extortion.
A was transferred to the prosecution in custody on the 2nd, while the other two are currently on trial in detention.
Suspects of the Pattaya Drum Murder Case in Thailand going to the detention warrant hearing. Photo by Lee Seryung
Investigations revealed that they met through a recruitment ad related to electronic financial fraud (voice phishing) crimes.
A, who was operating in Thailand for the criminal organization, posted a recruitment message on a social networking service (SNS) in January this year.
After seeing this, B contacted A and traveled to Thailand first, and shortly after, B called C, a junior from his hometown, to join them in Thailand.
The group lived off the proceeds from voice phishing crimes, but when their earnings dwindled, they conspired to kidnap a Korean tourist visiting a club in order to steal money.
On April 30, they contacted the victim, D, via an open chatroom on a mobile messenger and, after chatting, selected him as their target.
At around midnight on May 3, local time, they met D at a club in Bangkok, got him drunk, and offered to take him to his hotel, but instead drove him to a condo they had reserved as the crime scene.
During the drive, when D protested that they were going the wrong way, they assaulted him as a group, resulting in his death.
Afterward, A and B moved to Pattaya, placed the victim's body and cement into a prepared rubber drum, and, after it hardened, dumped it into the Maprachan Reservoir in Pattaya at around 10 p.m. on May 4.
Three days after the crime, on May 7, they used the victim's mobile phone to withdraw 3.7 million won from his account and transferred it to their own accounts.
They also called the victim's mother and threatened her, saying, "Your son threw our drugs into the river and caused us losses, so transfer 100 million won to an account in your son's name."
Local police in Thailand discovered a drum containing a corpse at Maprachan Reservoir in Pattaya. [Photo by Khaosod, a Thai media outlet]
The case surfaced when the victim's parents, after receiving the threatening call, reported their son missing to the police.
The victim's mutilated body, with all ten fingers damaged, was discovered by local police around May 11, local time.
The police, in cooperation with local authorities, launched an intensive investigation to identify the suspects, arresting C in Jeongeup, Jeonbuk, immediately after the incident on May 12, and B in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on May 14, who was forcibly extradited to Korea on July 10.
A, who had fled through Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam, was finally apprehended in Hanoi, Vietnam, on September 12 and forcibly extradited to Korea on September 24, ending the manhunt.
Police and prosecutors expect that, with all three suspects in custody, the case against the group will proceed rapidly.
C, the first to be arrested, denied all charges including murder during his trial, while B, who was tried later, admitted only to robbery, concealment of a corpse, and attempted extortion.
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