CSD Police Investigators in Thailand have uncovered compelling evidence linking a police officer to the alleged cyanide killer who’s suspected of poisoning over 20 people. Police have already linked Ms. Sararat Rangsiwuthaporn to 14 deaths through cyanide poisoning.
Deputy National Police Chief Pol Gen Surachate Hakparn told the Bangkok Post on Tuesday that an application for an arrest warrant for the unnamed officer would be made in the coming days. He didn’t say anything further.
According to an informed source, investigators from Provincial Police Region 7 were anticipated to request for a warrant for Pol Lt Col Withoon Rangsiwuthaporn, the key suspect’s former husband.
According to the source, investigators discovered that millions of baht had been transferred from her bank accounts to the police officer’s bank accounts. According to the source, investigators were still gathering evidence to support the court application.
Investigators from the Crime Suppression Division (CSD) questioned Pol Lt Col Withoon, deputy superintendent of the Suan Phueng police station in Ratchaburi, for the second time on Tuesday.
The officer previously told investigators that he and Ms Sararat separated three years ago, but they continued to live in the same house because they needed to help each other care for their two children. They slept in different rooms.
During that time, Pol Lt Col Withoon loaned money to his ex-wife. When she made profits, she allegedly transferred the funds back to him, but the amounts were not large.
Investigators are exhaustively investigating the pair’s financial trail. They’re also trying to figure out if Pol Lt Col Withoon was present when Ms Sararat committed the crimes she’s accused of.
Source of poison for cyanide killer
Police searched the premises of a firm in Lat Krabang where the suspect is suspected to have obtained the cyanide on Tuesday morning. Officers examined two four-story commercial buildings of the company, which distributes chemicals and laboratory equipment. The search results were not made public.
Investigators want to collaborate with the Department of Industrial Works and the Food and Drug Administration to investigate the company’s importation of the dangerous chemical, as well as its goals for doing so, according to Pol Gen Surachate.
“If it is found to be involved, legal action will be taken,” he stated.
Dr. Weerachai Phutdhawong, an associate professor of chemistry at Kasetsart University, stated on Tuesday that police had sent roughly 400 pieces of evidence in the case to be tested in a laboratory. By Friday, all tests would be completed. Initially discovered cyanide traces in some items. Police would release the test findings later, he said.
15 deaths linked to cyanide killer
On Tuesday, Pol Gen Surachate stated that the probe was proceeding smoothly. There were now 14 purported victims who had died and one survivor.
Investigators have arrest orders for Ms Sararat in ten cases so far, he said.
Ms Sararat, 36, called “Aem Cyanide,” was apprehended on April 25 at the government building on Chaeng Watthana Road in Bangkok on a Criminal Court warrant. She is currently four months pregnant and is being imprisoned at the Central Women’s Correctional Institute without bail.
“I assure you that police have sufficient evidence to charge ‘Aem’ in all cases.” “There is circumstantial evidence as well as autopsy results,” said Pol Gen Surachate on Tuesday.
The arrest came when the mother and elder sister of the late Siriporn “Koy” Khanwong, 32, of Kanchanaburi, submitted a complaint. On April 14, Siriporn fell and died on the bank of the Mae Klong river in Ratchaburi’s Ban Pong district, where she had gone with Ms Sararat to release fish for merit-making. Cyanide was discovered in her body.
Investigators believe Ms Sararat put cyanide in Siriporn’s food, which killed her. She is also accused of stealing from the victim.
Autopsies must be performed
According to Pol Gen Surachate, officials also have information on additional people who had touch with the suspect and died as a result. Police were looking into whether they were victims.
He requested that relatives of victims who died after meeting and eating with the suspect contact him at the Royal Thai Police Sports Club on Vibhavadi Rangsit Road.
The deputy police chief also requested that police station commanders in the locations where the murders happened conduct additional investigations into other incidents of unnatural deaths, such as if people’s hands or fingernails had gone green.
Pol Gen Damrongsak Kittiprapas, the national police head, would meet with the investigative teams on Wednesday. Ms. Sararat’s 15th poisoning victim, the mother of a woman who died in Bangkok seven years ago, met with CSD investigators on Monday.
Ms Ladda, 64, stated that her daughter Montathip, also known as Sai, 37, died seven years ago in Bangkok. She reportedly informed authorities that she believed Ms Sararat was responsible for her death, despite the fact that she had no evidence to back up her claim.
Ms Sararat is also suspected of murdering her partner, Sutthisak “Dae” Phoonkhwan, with whom she established a relationship after divorcing her husband.
Sutthisak, 35, died in Udon Thani on March 12 of this year. He passed out at a petrol station in the northeastern province’s Nong Han district after making merit with Ms Sararat at a local temple and eating at a restaurant.
He was brought to Nong Han Hospital by rescue workers, where he was treated and eventually discharged. But he died later that day in a dormitory in Udon Thani’s Muang district.