The search continues today for a two-year-old Lahu tribe boy, who has been missing from home in a mountain village in Chiang Rai since last Saturday.
Officials from the Mirror Foundation say that there are four possible reasons for the disappearance of the boy, identified as Kriangkrai Sae Mee. He was either abducted, became a victim of domestic violence, had an accident or became involved in a conflict over his guardianship.
According to the Mae Yao sub-district police, Kriangkrai was last seen with his uncle, who tested positive for drugs on the day he was summoned by the police for questioning. Police said, however, that nothing was found to indicate that the uncle is be responsible for the disappearance.
Two police sniffer dogs were due to arrive in Ban Phasuk village in Mae Yao sub-district yesterday to join the search operation.
Yesterday, the boy’s mother and grandmother led Thai PBS reporters to the place at which the boy was last seen with his uncle. They said that the boy was playing with a football in the village before he went missing, adding that they do not have any conflict within the community.
Other villagers said that there were several outsiders attending a wedding ceremony last Saturday, when the boy went missing, adding, however, that the boy never normally strayed out of the village alone.
Villagers started looking for the boy last Saturday, before they reported him missing to the police, because the police station is about an hour’s walk from the village.
The place where the boy was last seen is a hill near a dry creek next to his parents’ house. A flowing stream is about 400 metres from the village.
