Police search for two suspects in beachside slaying of Russian women
Police investigators and Pattaya station officers hold a meeting yesterday in a bid to solve the murders of two Russian women.
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Police investigating the slaying of two Russian women who were shot dead as they waited for the sun to rise at Jomtien beach last Saturday are searching for two men, one of whom may have been a foreign national.
Video footage of the scene and a roadway show the gunman driven on a motorcycle by a tall, hefty man who appears to be a foreigner, police said. Police believe he may have been on the same Siberian Air flight that carried the two women to Thailand on February 16, a senior police commander said yesterday. Lt-General Assawin Khwanmueng said investigators were examining the passenger list of the charter flight, SBI 849. There were 201 passengers, including 10 children, he said. Police have yet to determine whether the double homicide is linked to Pattaya's notorious sex trade. Tatiana Tsimfer, 30, and Liubov Svirkova, 25, were found dead in their beach chairs at 5am on Saturday. Video footage from surveillance cameras showed a lone gunman shooting 10 rounds at the victims before fleeing on a waiting motorcycle driven by another male. Vladimia Viprovin, the Russian consul in Pattaya who is assisting police investigating the crime, dismissed speculation that the women were sex workers. Both had full-time jobs in Russia and were on their first visit to Thailand, Vladimia said. Based on the images from the video footage, Police say the killer is a tall and thin, non-western male. They say footage from cameras at U Tapao airport, where flight SBI 849 landed, will be checked for more clues. Police are also questioning unregistered tour guides to identify the one the women had hired shortly after they arrived. The male guide has disappeared, but his image is on a video camera belonging to one of the victims. Pattaya police have questioned a Russian male who knew both victims and visited sites with them. The unidentified man and another Russian male were seen chatting with the women on Friday afternoon. Police said the motorcycle driver could be a foreign national due to his large build and height, which was up to 180 centimetres, according to footage from cameras on a major road heading to Chachaengsao that was used as an escape route. Acting Police Chief Seripisut Temiyavej said he believed the murders could have been ordered or carried out by foreign gangs in Pattaya. He threatened to take action against Pattaya's police for failing to deal with the problem of foreign gangs. Pattaya police chief Colonel Suthin Phuangsab said he believed the gunman was a Thai. He claimed that there were no foreign gangs in Pattaya.
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