SOURCE :- THE AGE NEWS
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It was only weeks back that Australian man Simon Carman allegedly murdered Thai teenager Thanchanok Donhomla near the Thai city of Pattaya and stuffed her body into a suitcase. It was a big story in Thailand – and Australia, of course. The latest gruesome news out of the notorious party town, though, is something else again, in magnitude, horror and in the mark it has left on a stunned Thai public. Even Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul had to go see things for himself.
The story began trickling out of Pattaya late last month, after Russians Diana Nazimova, 22, and her brother Roman, 17, left their housing estate on their motorbike in the dark of early morning on July 26, never to return. Their mother, Zarina, believed they were off to get something from a 24-hour convenience store.
The family is originally from Tyumen, in western Siberia, according to Russian media. Zarina had lived in Pattaya since 2018, and her children joined her there in 2021. So it seemed unlikely the siblings got lost. Adding to the sense of dread were reports of a message (or messages) Diana sent Zarina about 20 minutes after leaving the house.
“Urgent!” The Kyiv Post reported her texting. Just one word. Other media carried different accounts, including that Diana messaged her mother to say she thought someone was following them. The truth is unclear.
Three days went by with nothing, and then an ominous breakthrough. The siblings’ motorbike was discovered dismantled and buried in a wooded area about six kilometres to the east. Any faint hope they had of being on a secret adventure away from Mum was dashed.
A man named Pong, with a history of serious violence, lived close to where the motorbike was found and had only recently been released from jail after serving a seven-year sentence for attempted murder. Police found him, and a prison friend called Thong, hiding in an orchard in a separate province bordering Cambodia. The suspects quickly gave it up. Diana and Roman were dead.
Thong told investigators he and Pong came across the Russians by chance and decided they wanted the motorbike. Pretending to be police officers, the men restrained and searched the siblings.
It’s unclear whether Diana and Roman were killed there and then, or taken alive to the forest, but their bodies were found in a shallow grave not far from the motorbike on the night the two men were arrested. Roman had been shot in the head and stomach. Diana, who was beaten, was stacked on top of him.
But the suspects had more secrets.
About two kilometres from where the Russians’ bodies were found, police made another grisly discovery: three people from one Thai family buried in a single grave in a nearby coconut grove. Parents Wichian and Chantana, along with 18-year-old daughter Nichapha, had been bound and shot.
Pong reportedly confessed that he and at least one other person had again posed as police to enter the family’s home. They handcuffed the parents, who were the only ones home at the time. When the daughter returned from the store, they restrained her too. The motivation was apparently robbery.
Another daughter reported the disappearances to the police more than a month ago. Her family’s bodies might have never been found if not for the heavily resourced investigation into the missing Russian siblings, a point that led to perceptions of double standards, for which police have apologised.
Investigators soon identified another two male suspects, matching reports from witnesses who say they saw four men with digging tools near the Russians’ grave.
Thailand appeared to be dealing with a serial killer gang.
As the story exploded, the prime minister visited the scene at the weekend.
“I have to go see it with my own eyes – how could it be so brutally cruel?” Charnvirakul said, according to the Thai Enquirer.
“It’s not just about killing foreigners or murdering three fellow Thais, it’s killing every Thai in the country, destroying the trust we’re trying to build with the international community.”
Charnvirakul said there might be even more bodies still to discover.
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