Police launch probe after digging up infant corpse

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

PHUKET: Police have launched an investigation after discovering an infant’s corpse, covered in gold leaf and inside a glass coffin, under a Brahma shrine in Chiang Mai province.

Police dug up the coffin on Tuesday from under the shrine at Huai Din Jee Temple in Doi Lor district.

Locals say they are worried it might have something to do with black magic, while police are trying to nail down the offenders.

“We began looking into this after receiving complaints from locals,” Provincial Police Region 5 deputy chief Maj Gen Pacha Rattanaphan said yesterday.

The temple’s former abbot, Chalerm Duangthong, confessed to having buried the corpse under the shrine, but denied any wrongdoing.

“My intention was to send this infant’s soul to a good place,” he said.

Trade in bodies, body parts

According to police, Mr Chalerm admitted to buying the corpse from an undertaker for 3,000 baht as he planned to turn it into an amulet of the mystical being “Kuman Thong”.

“However, he claims he changed his plan because the infant was big and looked very human,” Gen Pacha said, adding that an autopsy would be conducted on the corpse to determine the cause of death.

“We will also try to locate the undertaker who sold the corpse to Mr Chalerm, as she may be part of a gang trafficking human parts,” Gen Pacha said.

Mr Chalerm identified the undertaker as Boon, saying she is known to have sold many human corpses or parts for those interested in black magic.

— Phuket Gazette Editors