BANGKOK: A Spanish man has confessed to murdering and dismembering the body of another foreigner on the popular Thai tourist island of Koh Pha Ngan, police said Saturday.
Police believe body parts including hips and thighs that were found at a rubbish dump on Thursday belong to a 44-year-old Colombian plastic surgeon they named as Edwin Arrieta Arteaga.
Daniel Sancho Bronchalo, 29, who arrived in Thailand on July 31 as a tourist, has confessed to the murder, police said.
"He admitted it," Koh Pha Ngan's police chief Panya Niratimanon, told AFP, adding the investigation is ongoing.
"The victim and the suspect knew each other before they came to Thailand, and his dubious activities indicate that he might murder the victim," Panya said.
The suspect works as a chef and is the son of well-known Spanish actor Rodolfo Sancho, according to media reports.
Photos of the suspect appear to match pictures on Daniel Sancho's Instagram account, which also follows the victim's account. The Instagram account has been previously tagged in Rodolfo Sancho's posts.
The Spanish embassy in Bangkok, Rodolfo Sancho and his agent did not immediately respond to AFP requests for comment.
Thailand is a relatively safe country where violent crimes are rare.
Koh Pha Ngan is famed for white sandy beaches and draws thousands of backpackers to its notoriously wild "full moon" parties.
In 2014, another tourist island Koh Tao was rocked by the double murder of two young British backpackers.
Two Burmese nationals are serving sentences of life imprisonment for the murders, but rights groups have accused Thai authorities of using the men as scapegoats.
Spanish man confesses to murder on Thai tourist island: Police
https://arab.news/mx4gm
Spanish man confesses to murder on Thai tourist island: Police
- Daniel Sancho Bronchalo, 29, who arrived in Thailand on July 31 as a tourist, has confessed to the murder
- The suspect works as a chef and is the son of well-known Spanish actor Rodolfo Sancho
Kazakhstan urges US and Europe to help secure oil transport after tanker attacks in Black Sea
- Kazakhstan’s foreign ministry said three tankers were hit en route to the marine terminal of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium
- Russian defense ministry said Matilda tanker came under attack by two Ukrainian strike drones
MOSCOW: Kazakhstan on Wednesday urged the US and Europe to help secure the transport of oil following drone attacks on tankers heading to a Black Sea terminal on the Russian coast which handles one percent of global supply.
Unidentified drones struck at least two oil tankers in the Black Sea on Tuesday, including one chartered by US oil major Chevron, as they sailed toward a terminal on the Russian coast to load oil from Kazakhstan.
Kazakhstan’s foreign ministry said in a statement that three tankers were hit en route to the marine terminal of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) in the Black Sea. On November 29, drones also attacked CPC’s exporting equipment, resulting in a fall in oil exports via the outlet.
“The increasing frequency of such incidents highlights the growing risks to the functioning of international energy infrastructure,” the ministry said in a statement.
“We therefore call upon our partners to engage in close cooperation to develop joint measures aimed at preventing similar incidents in the future,” it added.
Russian defense ministry said on Wednesday that the Matilda tanker, sailing under the Maltese flag, came under attack by two Ukrainian strike drones at a distance of about 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the city of Anapa in Russia’s Krasnodar region.
Ukraine did not comment on the incident.
Shareholders in CPC’s 1,500-km (930-mile) pipeline include Kazakhstan’s state-owned oil company KazMunayGas, Russia’s Lukoil and units of US oil giants Chevron and ExxonMobil.
Russian terminals on the Black Sea handle more than 2 percent of global crude. Its waters, which are shared by Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania and Turkiye, as well as Russia and Ukraine, are also crucial for the shipment of grain.
CPC alone accounts for around 80 percent of oil exports from Kazakhstan.
