A police officer from Phop Phra district is suspected of killing nine migrant workers, whose bodies were found last week in Thailand, after he demanded money and they tried to flee.

Pol Lt Gen Surasri Sunthornsaratun, the commander of Police Region 6 said at a press conference in Maesot District, Tak Province that a perpetrator team led by Pol. Sen. Sgt. Maj Somchai Pinkaew, of  Pob Phra district were suspected of the crime.

However, Pol. Sen. Sgt. Maj Somchai  already died from  committed suicide on January 30, after he confessed his crime to commander and colleagues.

“Investigations reveal that Somchai together with five others – two Yunnanese and three ethnic Lisu were behind the killing,” Pol Lt Gen Surasri, said according to a report in the Thai news website Manager on Thursday.

The bodies of the murdered Karen workers were found in two different locations in two districts of Tak province bordering Karen State in Burma. The first four bodies were found last Wednesday. The bodies of the first two - a man and a woman were found in a cane field in Phop Phra district. Two others - again a man and a woman were found in Mae Sot district. Two more bodies of women were found on Sunday in a roadside grave in Phop Phra, while three more bodies of two women and a man were found on Tuesday on the roadside in Phop Phra.

Post mortem reports reveal all nine were shot dead with .22 and.38-calibre guns belonging to Pol. Sen. Sgt. Maj Somchai, according to Pol Lt Gen Surasri.

He said the suspects asked for money from the workers but the workers ran away.  They were caught and killed. However, there is another report that suggests the suspects wanted to ask for ransom from their relatives.

Surapong Kongjanteuk, from the Human Rights Committee of Thai Lawyer’s Council told Mizzima that his committee has sent a lawyer’s  team to the area to investigate  and provide legal support.

“Such crime has occurred before in a nearby area when six migrant workers were killed because ransom was not paid. The case is still in the appeal court after a trial court sentenced a village headman to death,” he said.

Relatives of the nine murdered workers, who travelled from Bangkok to identify the bodies in Tak, said most of the dead were from Karen state in Burma, across the border from Tak. The husband of a victim told a reporter of a television channel that he sent 8,000 baht [242 USD] to his wife for travelling to Thailand. His wife was among those killed.