NONTHABURI – Police officers have arrested the first suspect in the grisly case in which human body parts were found stuffed in black bags in Nonthaburi province near Bangkok. Forensic results identified the deceased as a member of the Japanese Yakuza gang.
Mr. Kritsakorn Jaipitak, or Game, 31, who was originally a witness in the murder case, has become a suspect involved in hiding the body parts, including hands and bones, dumped in the area of Soi Jadsan Teedin 2, Bang Bua Thong district, Nonthaburi province.
The first piece of the body, the right hand bone with a tattoo on the wrist, was found by a boy on April 19. The boy told his mother, who is a housekeeper at a furniture factory in the alley. She quickly alerted the police, resulting in the discovery of further body parts in the neighbourhood. On April 23, the police found the skull in Soi Puyai Liam, Moo 4, Pimlaraht sub-district.
Meanwhile, officers from Region 1 police and Bang Bua Thong police jointly arrested Mr. Game and confiscated the vehicle he was driving. He was then interrogated at Bang Bua Thong Police Station later that evening.
In his preliminary statement, he claimed to have been hired by a group of three Japanese men to pick them up and take them to a factory on the outskirts of Bangkok on March 28. The deceased was sitting in the front passenger seat next to him, while the other two perpetrators, also Japanese nationals, were sitting in the back seat.
During the journey, the three Japanese men got into a heated argument in the car, which escalated into violence. When they reached the factory, the Japanese man sitting in the back of the car signaled him to stop and got out first.
He then opened the car door to smoke a cigarette when he heard a gunshot from inside the car. Upon investigation, he discovered that the Japanese man sitting in the passenger seat had died with a gunshot wound to the head.
The two remaining Japanese men then carried the body of the deceased to the factory and returned with several black sacks, which they ordered him to take to the place where the body parts had been discovered.
Region 1 police investigators then took Mr. Game to look for more evidence at the factory and interrogated him continuously on April 24.
Police then charged him with collusion to conceal the corpse or part of it. According to criminal code Section 199, whoever stealthily burys, conceals, removes, or destroys the corpse or part of the corpse so as to conceal the birth, death, or cause of death shall be imprisoned not out of one year or fined not out of 2,000 baht, or both.
At this point, the court approved arrest warrants for Mr. Takuya Kato, 50, who called himself “Boss,” and Mr. Hiroto Suzuki, aged 33, both suspects of Japanese nationality.
In addition, the police, in coordination with the Immigration Bureau, have reported to Interpol requesting arrest warrants for the two Japanese suspects, who have criminal records and are also wanted by Japanese authorities.
The investigators believed the dispute among Yakuza members arose due to conflicting interests before their arrival in Thailand, where they wanted to negotiate with the deceased one last chance. When the negotiations failed, they resorted to homicide.
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