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Two Britons 'dead On Thai Beach'


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Police seek help from FBI on DNA

 

 

Police will request help from the United States' Federation Bureau of Investigation to test semen found in the body of a female British backpacker brutally murdered on the resort island of Koh Tao this week.

 

DNA testing technology in Thailand could only identify whether human secretions came from a male or female, said deputy police chief General Somyot Pumpunmuang, while the FBI had "sophisticated technology".

 

"We will ask the FBI to help identify the DNA in the semen we found - whether it belonged to an Asian or European," he said yesterday.

 

The bodies of Hannah Witheridge and fellow British national David Miller, both 24, were found on Monday morning on Koh Tao, in Surat Thani province. Autopsies revealed they were brutally beaten, while Miller was drowned during the deadly attack.

 

Somyot, who will become police chief next month, said he would travel to Koh Tao today to inspect the crime scene and follow up on the latest developments of the investigation.

 

"This is a big case and the premier has been very concerned about the matter," he said.

 

Meanwhile, residents on Koh Tao are offering a reward for information that leads to the arrest of the killers, Koh Tao mayor Chaiyan Turasakul told Agence France-Presse.

 

"At this point we are offering Bt50,000 for anyone who can provide clues which leads to the arrest of a suspect. The money comes from donations from the people of Koh Tao," Chaiyan said.

 

Prime Minister General Prayuth Chan-ocha said in his weekly televised address to the nation yesterday that he had ordered police to bring the culprits to immediate justice.

 

"Progress has been made continuously although it is not known yet who are the killers," he said.

 

"The authorities concerned have been assigned to ensure safety at tourist attractions. People and volunteers must also engage in assisting and monitoring for the sake of safety."

 

Somyot revealed that the latest inspection of the crime scene unearthed a cigarette butt at a spot on the island where traces of Witheridge's DNA was found. He said it was likely that she met her attackers at the spot and had a conversation there.

 

Pol General Jaramporn Suramanee, an adviser to the Royal Thai Police Office who visited Koh Tao on Thursday, said on that day that several pieces of evidence had been found at the scene.

 

He visited the scene after DNA samples collected from the body of Witheridge did not match those of the 12 suspects.

 

Jaramporn was speaking after searching an area near the crime scene towards the sea during low tide on Thursday night.

 

He simulated what might have happened including focusing on the distance between the location where the bodies were found and a hoe believed to be the murder weapon.

 

Witnesses near the crime scene told police they saw three men near in the area on the night of the murders.

 

A tourism police commander, Maj-General Atichai Ti-amart, said police were also looking for a foreign woman captured on CCTV running near the crime scene.

 

Police investigators continued to gather more evidence yesterday, focusing on trying to identify an Asian man seen in CCTV footage at the time of the murder.

 

 

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Police-seek-help-from-FBI-on-DNA-30243708.html

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Incompetent means there are capable of doing their job. Manipulating evidence to implicate a particular individual is criminality, not just incompetence...

 

Speaking of incompetence... THEY are INcapable, THEY are INcapable... And I wasn't even (very) drunk when I posted...

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BANGKOK: -- Royal Thai Police commissioner revealed Saturday that latest DNA examination has now confirmed Asian suspects responsible for the rape and murder of the English tourist in Koh Tao.

 

Pol Gen Somyot Phunphanmuang disclosed the latest test of DNA samples collected from semen found inside the vagina and annal of Ms Hannah Witheridge, 23, showed they belonged to Mongoloid people or Asians.

 

He revealed the finding just before boarding a flight to Surat Thani today to direct the investigation and hunting down the suspects.

 

The latest discovery has now enabled the police to narrow their investigation to focus on specific groups, migrant workers and local Thai people.

 

Pol Gen Somyot also said the Royal Thai Police has now suspended its earlier plan to seek help from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) after forensic doctors could conduct deeper test of the Y chromosome DNA test.

 

A Y chromosome DNA test (Y-DNA test) is a genealogical DNA test which is used to explore a man’s patrilineal or direct father’s-line ancestry.

 

The genealogical DNA test looks at a person’s genome at specific locations. Results give information about genealogy or personal ancestry. In general, these tests compare the results of an individual to others from the same lineage or to current and historic ethnic groups.

 

Source: http://englishnews.t...nglish-tourist/

 

"DNA samples collected from semen found inside the vagina and annal of Ms Hannah Witheridge"

That poses more questions than answer.

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DNA tests will be done in Singapore

 

 

Semen found on the body of one of the two British tourists murdered on Koh Tao in Surat Thani province last Sunday will be examined in a Singapore laboratory, national police chief General Somyot Poompanmoung said yesterday.

 

Somyot said the DNA test would be able to identify the race, hair colour and skin colour of the person, which would help with the police investigation. :surprised:

 

It is understood cigarette butts found at the crime scene will also be sent to Singapore for DNA analysis, although Somyot did not mention the butts in his remarks to reporters yesterday during a visit to the island.

 

Somyot had earlier said the authorities would ask the United States' Federal Bureau of Investigation to conduct the test, as the police's Institute of Forensic Medicine's DNA test was capable of only identifying the sex.

 

He said police had clues that pointed to the perpetrators of the crime being Asian men and he was "confident" they remained on the island in the Gulf of Thailand. Surveillance camera footage obtained one day after the brutal slayings showed an Asian-looking man running from the scene.

 

Somyot was speaking on Koh Tao, where police investigators simulated the crime using a few scenarios.

 

They were: the attackers followed the victims from a bar; the attackers randomly selected them after spotting them walking; with police following the route they suspect the attackers took before they killed the victims on the beach.

 

Somyot said police were trying to pinpoint how long the attackers were at the scene based on cigarettes that were discarded there. Police found, through DNA analysis, that one of the cigarette butts was smoked by two people, and semen from both men was found in the female victim's body.

 

Somyot said a theory had been established about another possible weapon used in the murder apart from a blood-stained garden hoe found near the crime scene. The theory centred on the weapon being returned from where it was taken from in a hurried manner.

 

Three musicians played at beach

 

The general said surveillance camera footage of all travellers coming onto the island and leaving it in the days leading up to last Sunday was being examined.

 

DNA samples had been collected from 12 suspects and another 30 people who were potential suspects.

 

Somyot said migrant workers and Thai residents lived near the crime scene, including three musicians of unknown nationality who were playing on Chor Por Ror beach, where the crime took place, on the night of the murders. Police had not excluded there being other potential suspects, whom he said could be anyone including Thai residents or tourists staying on the island.

 

Somyot offered a Bt100,000 reward, which is on top of the Bt100,000 bounty offered by Koh Kao residents and tour operators on the island, for information leading to the arrest of the killers.

 

Prime Minister General Prayuth Chan-ocha yesterday issued a letter of condolence to his British counterpart David Cameron and the families of victims, Hannah Witheridge and David Miller, both aged 24.

 

He vowed to closely coordinate with the British authorities and the British embassy about the hunt for the killers.

 

Prayuth had earlier apologised over his controversial bikini comments in the wake of the murders. He suggested women in bikinis could be more vulnerable to attack.

 

 

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/DNA-tests-will-be-done-in-Singapore-30243745.html

 

 

 

My Y-DNA shows my ancestral origins. It does NOT tell my hair colour or complexion. :p

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Police collect DNA sample from almost ten fishing crew members

 

 

Police Sunday collected DNA samples from almost ten crewmembers aboard fishing boats off the shores of Koh Tao, Surat Thani, in the on-going efforts to hunt down killers of two British tourists on the island.

 

The sample will be compared to the DNA extracted from semen found on the female tourist. So far, police said the extracted DNA indicated that the killers are Asians.

 

 

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/Police-collect-DNA-sample-from-almost-ten-fishing--30243769.html

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So far, police said the extracted DNA indicated that the killers are Asians

 

"However, the 'sniff-test' for semen is of questionable reliability, as many foreign tourist may also have sampled fish sauce during their holiday..."

 

When will someone tell the cops that either they shut the hell up, or get fired? I can't believe they just gossip and gossip like a bunch of market ladies, when the case has reached the level of attention that it has... Unbelievable.

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