Chiang Mai: The search for an almost two-year-old girl who on Sunday night went missing from her home in a remote village tucked away in a valley in Mae Taeng district continued on Tuesday, while her parents still hope to find her.
No signs of the missing girl were found since the search, involving about 200 security officers and volunteers, began on Sunday.
Police have also questioned a friend of the girl's father who is being treated as the prime suspect in the case.
Pol Col Eksukhon Si-arun, the deputy chief of Chiang Mai police, said the suspect had at this point been charged with illegal entry as he was found to be an illegal migrant living in the same village.
The man is well acquainted with Phonsiri "Nong Gina" Wongsilarung, the missing girl, as he is a friend of her father, Suriya Wongsilarung, 43, and visited the family frequently, said Pol Col Eksukhon.
Police continued interrogating the man while looking for five cars suspected to also be involved and checking with security cameras in the village, said Pol Col Eksukhon.
Mr Suriya identified the suspect as Siew, who he very much suspected to have something to do with the disappearance of his daughter.
Mali Pasi, 23, the mother of the girl, said because her daughter normally is afraid to talk to strangers, she believed it would be impossible for her daughter to leave the village alone.
The mother begged whoever has taken her from the village to bring her back to the family before her birthday next month when she turns two years old.
Suparot Phonchomphu, a neighbour who lives about 50 metres away from the girl's house and is believed to be the last person to have seen the girl before she vanished on Sunday night, said she came across the girl walking alone when she was leaving the village on a bicycle.
On spotting the girl by herself, the neighbour said she slowed her bicycle to ask the girl where she was going but the girl refused to speak to her.
Ms Suparot left the girl and decided to tell another villager who she came across shortly after riding away that she had seen the girl alone and she didn't know who she was.
The search team, plus some sniffer dogs from the border patrol police, on Tuesday expanded the scope of the search areas they were covering in the hope of finding the girl.
