Police seek Myanmar’s assistance to arrest couple.
PATTAYA – A Myanmar couple suspected of killing an Iranian restaurateur and his Thai wife surrendered to police in Nakhon Pathom, seeking repatriation.
Pol Maj Gen Thawatkiat Jindakhuansanong, commander of Chon Buri police, said on Thursday that authorities were about to seek arrest warrants for Kyaw Myint Oo, 23, and Ei December, 19. The suspects allegedly targeted the victims for their valuables, and police are investigating what was stolen from them.
The Myanmar couple had entered Thailand through Tak with border passes.
Mojtaba Ghanbariazad, 64, and his Thai wife Thanaporn Poonprakhon, 49, were found murdered in their commercial building on Soi Day-Night in South Pattaya on Tuesday. Their bodies were discovered in a second-floor bedroom, with their Banoo Iranian Restaurant located on the ground floor.
The Iranian man’s body was naked from the waist down, and police believe he was strangled with trousers. The woman was found dead, naked and bound with plastic rope and a charger wire. A hammer, suspected to have been used in the murder, was found in the bedroom.
Police discovered that the Myanmar couple left the restaurant on the victims’ motorcycle on July 11 after both sides had an argument. They later abandoned the motorcycle and took a taxi to Bangkok before travelling to Nakhon Pathom.
The couple surrendered to Nakhon Pathom police for illegal immigration and expressed their intention to return to Myanmar. Police fined them and sent them to Mae Sot district of Tak, which borders Myanmar.
Police said both suspects likely crossed the border, as Thai authorities requested assistance from Myanmar counterparts to apprehend them.
The 29-year-old daughter of the late Thai woman told police that her mother had the Myanmar employee and his wife to stay to on the upper floor of the building. The Iranian man had reportedly scolded the employee over several incidents of missing money.
