Chiobu Wasted!
Remains of missing Chinese tourist Yan Ruimin found in Thailand, police say
- Chinese man identified as suspect has left the Southeast Asian country, according to Thai authorities
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Yuanyue Dangin Beijing
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Published: 6:00pm, 14 Jul 2024
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Thai police said on Saturday they had found the remains of a Chinese woman believed to have been missing for more than 10 days, and that a Chinese male suspect had left the country, according to Thai media reports.
Police are still awaiting the results of a final DNA test, but Thai media quoted police sources as saying the remains were most likely those of Yan Ruimin, a Chinese tourist who is believed to have been kidnapped.
Yan, 38, has been missing for almost two weeks.
Earlier this month, her family received a phone call from an unknown person demanding a ransom of 1 million yuan (US$137,800).
A friend of Yan’s reported to Thai police on Friday that he suspected Yan was in danger because he had not heard from her since June 30, when she told him she planned to go to Phuket two days later.
Thai police have identified Ma Qingyan, a 32-year-old Chinese man, as a suspect in the case, according to Thai media reports.
Thai police started an extensive search on Friday in an area where Yan was thought to have last visited, and on Saturday found a decomposed body buried in a grassy field.
Bangkok-based English-language news site The Nation quoted local police as saying that Yan had travelled to Thailand alone from Malaysia on June 26, while Ma arrived from Singapore four days later and rented a car.
The report said surveillance footage from July 1 showed Yan being picked up by Ma that day and the two holding hands. Thai police assumed the two knew each other.
But that evening, Ma drove alone and stopped at various places, eventually burning a suitcase near a pond, according to The Nation.
Police speculated that the suitcase might belong to the missing woman, The Nation reported.
Rescuers recover human remains, believed to be those of missing Chinese woman Yan Ruimin, in Thailand’s Chachoengsao province on Saturday. Photo: Weibo / 泰国网
The report also said that Yan was buried about 1km (0.62 miles) from where the suitcase was burned, and that Ma had stayed there for nearly 40 minutes.
Another report in The Bangkok Post on Saturday said that Yan’s mobile phone signal was last detected near a park some 70km from central Bangkok early on July 3.
The report quoted a Thai police source as saying that Ma left Bangkok for Hong Kong later that day.
But from July 4 to 6, Yan’s WeChat Pay account made several purchases in Macau, although there was no record of her leaving Thailand.
It is unclear when Yan’s family received the ransom call, but Thai media reported that they had immediately gone to Thailand.
The case has prompted public concern in China, with internet users questioning whether it is safe to travel to Southeast Asia.
Several kidnappings in Thailand and the Philippines this year had already raised alarm.
Late last month, a Chinese national and a Chinese-American reportedly travelling together on a business trip in the Philippines were kidnapped and killed.
China urged the Philippines to find and “severely punish” the killers of the kidnapped Chinese citizen.
Last month, four Philippine police officers were arrested for kidnapping three Chinese and one Malaysian tourist for ransom.
In April, a Chinese student studying in Australia was lured to Thailand by a kidnap gang and rescued by Thai police after a ransom of 8 million yuan was demanded.
