SURAT THANI: A Myanmar job broker who went missing on Sunday was found dead in the Tapi River with bullet wounds to his bound body. His torched pickup truck was found nearby in Phunphin district.
The brutal murder of Tul Chaleetapyiyaphat, 35, from Kanchanaburi, was disclosed after police found the burned pickup truck about 7km away from where his body was recovered.
The body of the Myanmar national was found floating on the Tapi River on Monday night with his hands and legs tied with a nylon rope. He had gunshot wounds to the stomach and back.
On Tuesday, the man's pickup truck was found torched on Ban Bokrang Road in tambon Tha Sathon in Phunphin district, said Pol Col Wichop Kerdkliang, deputy chief of Surat Thani police.
The victim's wife, identified as Ms Ae, had earlier filed a missing person report with Don Sak police. She said that on Aug 19, her husband had received a phone call asking him to pick up a number of Myanmar workers in downtown Surat Thani. He had been asked to transport the workers to Prachuap Khiri Khan, said Pol Col Wichop.
When he did not return to their home in Don Sak district of this southern province and his wife was unable to contact him, she sought help from police.
Police believed the gruesome murder might have been stemmed from a conflict over the provision of Myanmar migrant workers.
Pol Maj Gen Apichart Boonsrirot, chief of Surat Thani police, on Wednesday ordered police to speed up the probe into the brutal crime. A manhunt was underway.
