Officers stopped the bus, which was heading from Hat Yai to the capital, at a routine Highway Police checkpoint in Prachuap Khiri Khan province’s Mueang District at 5:30pm yesterday (July 2).
“We had been informed by Phuket Police that a man was wanted for the murder of a housemaid in an apartment in Phuket,” Maj Narongrit Ngamchang of Prachuap Khiri Khan’s Highway Police told The Phuket News.
“Phuket City Police named the wanted man as Eak Tomphet, 40 years old. They said he was on a bus from Hat Yai heading to Bangkok,” he added.
Eak was wanted for murder after the body of 39-year-old Fonthip Chaikul, originally from Huai Yot in Trang, was found strangled in a rented room apartment block in Rassada yesterday morning with a white nylon rope still tied around her neck. (See story here.)
“We went to general bus checkpoint where bus drivers stop to sign in as passing through. We found the suspect sitting on the bus as a passenger,” Maj Narongrit said.
The officers took Eak in for questioning, he added.
“He confessed that he committed this murder. He said that the cause of the murder was that the woman had cheated on him,” Maj Narongrit said.
Phuket City Police Chief Col Sompong Thiparpakul told The Phuket News that Eak was en route back to Phuket.
“We will hold a press conference later about this. Until then I cannot give your more details,” Col Sompong said.
Additional reporting Eakkapop Thongtub