Media, police forensic experts leave Koh Tao

– Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community

PHUKET: Forensic police yesterday pulled out of Koh Tao after completing their task collecting DNA samples from a large number of men, both Thai and migrant workers, in their hunt for the killers of two British citizens.

Their last task before leaving the island was teaching local police and non-forensic officers in the area how to improve crime scene inspections, including preserving crime scenes and correctly collecting DNA samples. Officers from the Crime Scene Investigation unit remain to try to solve the crime with local police.

A large number of foreign and Thai journalists have also left Koh Tao, as there has been little progress in the case. A police command post on the island remains, but has not seen much activity.

Foreign tourists still arrive in smaller numbers, reportedly not because of the gruesome killings but because it is the low season. Koh Tao is regarded as a good diving site.

The chairwoman of Koh Pha-ngan tourism promotion association, Wannee Thaiphanich, said she was puzzled with the police techniques on solving the murders, but still believed that they would soon catch the murderers. She said tour operators and residents still felt good towards authorities.

Meanwhile, a male university student yesterday showed up at the Metropolitan Police Bureau together with his mother and a lawyer to claim his innocence. The unnamed junior said he had been distraught by coverage of certain media outlets implicating him as a suspect in the murder of the two Britons.

Lawyer Atthakorn On-art said the man had an alibi and pictorial evidence of the student, 22, being in Bangkok at the time of the murders before dawn on September 15. He said the student skipped important classes despite impending exams, because he was stressed by the reports. The student said he wanted an apology from the media for twisting facts against him.

— Phuket Gazette Editors