Police have officially ended the search for the 8-month-old baby boy who went missing from home in Bang Len district of Nakhon Pathom on February 5th.

Pol Gen Surachate Hakparn, the deputy national police chief, said today (Wednesday) that they believe that the child, known as “Nong Tor”, is already dead, as stated by his underage mother, and his body might have been eaten by reptiles.

He said that it is not imperative that there is a body for a murder case to be proceeded to court, because the police have circumstantial sufficient evidence, including the mother’s statements, to substantiate the charges against four suspects, including the mother.

Surachate said that police have concluded the investigationand will forward the case to the public prosecutors in due course.

The mysterious disappearance of the child from his mother’s home in February set off an extensive search, which involvedthe deployment of drones, police sniffer dogs and a submersible, to scour the canal where the mother claims to have dumped her child and the connecting Tha Chin River.

It has also attracted widespread coverage in mainstream and social media for about a month.