Suspected 4-Man Gang Kills 5 in Pattaya, Prompting Thai PM Visit
Updated
Updated · Sydney Morning Herald · Aug 12
Suspected 4-Man Gang Kills 5 in Pattaya, Prompting Thai PM Visit
2 articles · Updated · Sydney Morning Herald · Aug 12
Summary
Five bodies—Russian siblings Diana Nazimova, 22, and Roman, 17, plus three members of a Thai family—were found in shallow graves near Pattaya, deepening fears of a serial killer gang.
Two suspects allegedly confessed after police traced the missing Russians’ dismantled motorbike to a wooded area; investigators say the men posed as police, robbed the victims and killed them.
The Thai family—parents Wichian and Chantana and daughter Nichapha, 18—had vanished more than a month earlier, and police said their bodies were uncovered only because of the heavily resourced search for the Russians.
Witness accounts of four men with digging tools led investigators to identify two more male suspects, while Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul visited the scene and warned more bodies could still be found.
The case has shocked Thailand and stirred accusations of double standards in policing after authorities apologized for the contrast between the response to the foreign victims and the earlier missing Thai family.