Bangkok cyanide importer to be searched in serial murder investigation

Police have sought a warrant to search a company in Bangkok, believed to be the source of the cyanide used by serial murder suspect “Sararat”, in the alleged poisoning of at least 14 people, Pol Gen Surachate Hakparn said today (Tuesday).

The deputy national police chief, who chaired a meeting with officers investigating the case, said that they will coordinate with the Industrial Works Department and the Office of the Thai Food and Drug Administration to check records of the import, distribution and inventories of cyanide at the company, located in the Lat Krabang area, to find out if any of its stock ended up in the possession of the suspect.

12 arrest warrants have been issued in the case against Sararat so far. The latest alleged victim was the former husband of the suspect, identified by the police as Suthisak Poonkwan, in the north-eastern province of Udon Thani.

Pol Maj-Gen Phitsanu Unhaseri, the commander of Udon Thani provincial police, said today that the provincial court issued a warrant for the arrest of Srarat over Suthisak’s suspicious death. He was a resident of Ban Pong district of Ratchaburi province, but went to Udon Thani on a business trip and died in suspicious circumstances while there.

Sararat is currently being detained at the Central Women’s Correctional Institution in Bangkok.

Pol Gen Surachate said police have sufficient evidence to implicate Sararat in the poisonings of ten victims, adding that, in most cases, the victims were given possibly doctored capsules of “traditional medicine”, which the suspect claimed could prevent COVID-19 infection and/or cure the disease.

While Sararat is, so far, the sole suspect in the alleged poisonings, Surachate said that one police officer is also under investigation in connection with the crimes, but he declined to elaborate.

The 12 arrest warrants concern the poisonings of the following people: