Police have detained seven people suspected of kidnapping the manager of a Bangkok medical instrument company, who was then believed to have been killed and his body burned in Lop Buri.
Nine people were initially involved, including one mastermind and eight other men, police said.
Charred remains found in the bathroom of an abandoned house in Lop Buri on Tuesday are believed to be those of the victim, identified as Rut Maneeprasert, 46.
The kidnapping took place on Ratchadaphisek Soi 18 in Bangkok on Feb 18.
Investigators said the gang seized Rut in a staged car crash before taking him to a house in Samut Prakan.
Police later found bloodstains at the property, indicating the victim was killed there by a separate three-person “hit team”.
Investigators believe the culprits then took the victim’s body through Nakhon Sawan and Phetchabun before returning to Lop Buri, where they burned it in an abandoned house.
Police say the mastermind paid 300,000 baht for the operation and promised a further 50,000 baht if Rut’s mobile phone was retrieved.
The motive reportedly stemmed from the mastermind’s discovery of a video showing an intimate encounter between his girlfriend and the victim. Police have also called the woman for questioning.
Two suspects remain at large.
