3 Arrested in China in Connection with Murder of Int'l Student
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The body of a missing 22-year-old Chinese international exchange student in Thailand was found swollen and stuffed in a sack at an irrigation canal of a deserted banana plantation in Nonthaburi province on April 1.
Local police said the student, identified as Ms. Jin, had been strangled and slashed with sharp objects on her neck, arms, legs, and many other body parts.
They identified the murder suspects as 3 Chinese nationals who had already fled back to China after committing the crime.
Noppasin Poolsawat, head of the investigation team at the Metropolitan Police Bureau, requested a warrant at a local court for the arrest of the three suspects, namely Mr. Zhao Pengfei, 24, Mr. Chen Saikang, 23, and Mr. Zhao Xiongfei, 23.
Background
On the night of March 28, the victim reportedly took a taxi from Bangkok Thonburi University and got off opposite a shopping mall in Nonthaburi. She then crossed an overpass on her way to the shopping mall but was forced into a red sedan which then quickly sped away.
The local police found that the sedan had been rented from a company in the Makkasan area and was returned to the company on March 29.
Records also showed that the same people who rented the sedan had also rented a house in Nonthaburi’s Bang Yai district, according to the local police, and they also quickly handed it back to the landlord on the evening of the same day.
The trio flew back to China last Thursday (March 30).
Kidnapped for Ransom
On March 29, Jin's father received WeChat messages demanding a ransom of 500,000 yuan to be transferred to a designated bank account to free his daughter. The perpetrators also sent him images of his daughter, with her hands and feet tied.
The father did not know what to do at the moment as the incident caught him by surprise. But as his daughter neither replied to his messages nor picked up her phone, he got worried and reported the matter to the university's consultant on the same day.
On April 1, Thailand police found a dead body on a deserted banana plantation and confirmed that it was the missing international student's body.
After they confirmed that the murderers had already fled back to China on March 30, in a flight destined for Chengdu, the Thailand police coordinated with Chinese police in Central China and the three were arrested yesterday in Wuhan.
The Thai police's person in charge of the case told reporters that the suspects and the victim knew each other, and one of the suspects tried to pursue the victim. It is yet to be concluded whether the two developed a relationship or the victim refused his advances.
The victim went to Thailand as an exchange student in March, and she had only spent 20 days in the country before the murder took place.
The Thai police also mentioned that the suspects had also entered Thailand for the first time this year, and it is yet to be determined whether they had intentionally followed her to the country.
The local police have also arrested a 19-year-old Thai woman who is working as a singer at the local KTV. She is suspected of providing the suspects with information on how to collect the ransom. She also helped the suspects to dispose of the body of the victim.
The singer claims that she was not involved in the killing of the victim.
The Thai police have invited Jin's parents to go to Thailand to cooperate with the investigation and help with the return of Jin's body back to China.
Jin's parents are working as music teachers in Zhejiang province, they have accepted the invitation and are in the process of applying for visas to go to Thailand to find out the truth behind their daughter's murder.
References: ThaiNewsRoom, Sanook, JimuNews, CoverNews,
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