Cash, safes, passports seized from Phuket villa in “gangster” murder investigation

Following the murder of an alleged gangster in Phuket, police have seized a number of items from the Indian man’s rented villa. According to a Bangkok Post report, investigating officers have removed 2 safes, 2 passports, and 700,000 baht in cash from the villa in Rawai, in the south of the island. The 32-year-old victim, named locally as Mandeep Singh, but as Jimi “Slice” Sandhu by Canadian sources, was killed outside the property on Friday night.

The murder is understood to have taken place around 10.30pm, but police were not alerted until staff from the adjacent Beachfront Hotel Phuket found the man’s body in the car park on Saturday morning. It’s not known why the sound of gunshots would not have alerted people sooner. Police found spent cartridges from .38 handgun, which have been sent for forensic analysis in an attempt to find the DNA of the perpetrators.

It’s understood one of the seized passports is in the name of Mandeep Singh but a Vancouver Sun report has named the dead man as Jimi Sandhu, an Indian national previously deported from Canada. Police say they believe the murder was due to conflict over an illegal business. The Bangkok Post reports that the victim arrived in Phuket by private jet from Malaysia on January 27.

Meanwhile, national police chief Suwat Jangyodsuk will arrive in Phuket today as part of the ongoing investigation.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post