Fridae

An illegal Thai tour guide and a Myanmar citizen have been charged with the murder of two Japanese men they met at gay bars in Bangkok, reports the Bangkok Post.

Thai police said Picherd Saenkaew, 30, and Aung Zaw Saw, 19, befriended their victims in Bangkok gay bars and lured them to their apartments where they killed them for their belongings and credit cards.

The suspects were charged with killing two Japanese tourists, Tomohiro Kosha and Akinobu Abe, and hiding their bodies at Bangkok dumpsites in April and July last year.

Police chief General Sant Sarutanont said the two suspects had confessed to murdering Abe, 32, in April last year and Tomohiro Kosha, 30, three months later. Picherd had also admitted and been charged with his murder of a missing Canadian tourist this year.

General Sant said Picherd knew Aung Saw Gyaw, who worked in a gay bar on Sukhumvit.

The two had met Abe and tricked him into staying with them at an apartment, where they hit him over the head with a chair and then strangled him. Abe's body was stuffed into a suitcase, which they dumped in Klong Saensab in Sukhumvit Soi 40. Abe's body was discovered by Thong Lor police in April.

After the killing, Picherd and Aung Saw Gyaw left for Cambodia to cash Abe's traveller's cheques, worth 120,000 baht. They also used his credit cards at various shops in Bangkok, Nonthaburi, and Pattaya.

General Sant said the suspects had lured the second victim, Kosha, to a Phra Khanong apartment and killed him. They stole his traveller's cheques worth 200,000 baht, a credit card and his camera. Picherd said he picked up basic Japanese when he went to Japan to demonstrate muay thai, a traditional form of Thai boxing.

They admitted dismembering his body and packing it in a suitcase and garbage bags which they threw into a canal. The body parts have not been found.

"I had to kill them so they would not have a chance to cancel their credit cards," Picherd said at a new conference at the Thai national police headquarters.

Police said they were also searching for two other Myanmar citizens suspected of involvement in the murder of the Canadian, identified by the police as David Chan, and dumping his body in Sukhotha, 440 km (275 miles) north of Bangkok. His body was discovered after the Canadian embassy alerted police to his disappearance.

On his release from jail for stealing a traveller's cheque from a tourist, Picherd said he decided to go back to stealing and made up his mind he must murder his victims to silence them.