Hell in paradise. A 29-year-old Spanish tourist has confessed to killing and dismembering the body of a man on the tourist island of Koh Phangan in southern Thailand, local police said on Saturday August 5, 2023, reports theFrance Media Agency. Body parts were discovered Thursday in a landfill. Police say they belong to a 44-year-old Colombian plastic surgeon, Edwin Arrieta Arteaga.
The suspect confessed
The individual in question, who arrived in Thailand on July 31 as a tourist, “admitted” the murder, Koh Phangan police chief Panya Niratimanon told AFP, adding that the investigation was continuing. “The victim and the suspect knew each other before Thailand”he added.
The suspect, who works as a chef, is the son of Spanish actor Rodolfo Sancho, according to media reports. The victim’s Instagram account was followed by the suspect, and tagged in some of his posts. Contacted by AFP, the Spanish embassy in Bangkok, Rodolfo Sancho and his agent did not react.
Two previous murders of two British tourists
The island of Koh Phangan, located in the Gulf of Thailand and very popular for its white sand beaches, also attracts thousands of tourists for its famous “Full moon parties”. The island of Koh Tao, also in the Gulf of Thailand, was the scene in 2014 of the murder of two young British tourists.
Two Burmese immigrant workers have been sentenced to life in prison for this double murder, but their lawyers and human rights associations have accused the police of having extracted confessions from the two young accused, in order to solve as quickly as possible the affair which had shocked the kingdom.
