Bangkok: Police escorted Mr. Saravee, the suspect in the abduction and murder of a young manager, out of his holding cell to be questioned by Pol. Gen. Siam Boonsom, the Bangkok Metropolitan Police Commissioner, and investigators. He remained silent and refused to answer any questions.
According to Thai News Agency, the Bangkok Metropolitan Police Commissioner revealed that Saravee denied ordering the abduction and murder, claiming he only instructed his team to retrieve the mobile phone. He confessed to ordering the abduction of the young manager. The investigation is being expanded to include a private video involving his former female associate.
After questioning Mr. Saravee for over an hour, the Bangkok Metropolitan Police Commissioner gave an interview stating that Mr. Saravee admitted to hiring Lieutenant Phumeth, or Art, the fugitive suspect, to retrieve the mobile phone, but claimed he did not intend to kill the victim and had never met her. Police are not yet convinced of his story, as there is clear evidence to convict him. The police also revealed that the crime was planned in advance, with Mr. Saravee renting a house and having someone follow him daily until an opportunity arose to act.
The motive stemmed from resentment and internal family problems. In-depth details will not be disclosed to avoid jeopardizing the case, but it is acknowledged that Mr. Saravee and Ms. Benyapha were simply siblings living in the same house. Ms. Benyapha was responsible for taking her daughter, who lived with Ms. Gina, to school. However, evidence clearly shows that Ms. Benyapha was an accomplice, having arranged for private informants to gather information about the victim since December of last year. Therefore, the police requested an arrest warrant from the court and charged all 10 individuals with premeditated murder.
Regarding the deceased's mobile phone, police questioned the suspect about this matter. The suspect admitted to demanding the phone back from the abduction gang, but stated that the phone has not yet been recovered. Whether there are any other private videos or other evidence on the phone will be investigated further through searches to gather evidence for the case file. If other individuals are found to have been involved in the crime, they will be prosecuted without exception. As for whether Ms. Gina also has private videos on her personal mobile phone, police are currently considering whether to examine this evidence for comparison.
Meanwhile, Thiti, Saravee's lawyer, confirmed that Saravee denies all charges and is not involved with his wife, Gina, because they have been separated for a long time, but they care for each other as a family (parents and child). The reason the police detained Saravee was because of his close relationship with Gina, so the police targeted him as the suspect.
Regarding Mr. Saravee, he knew Mr. Art, the leader of the abduction and murder team, because they had studied together in a government training course. He did not know any other details. Concerning the purchase of an overseas plane ticket, he admitted that it was true; Mr. Saravee already had a schedule, but he did not know the details of when he was traveling.