BANGKOK —

A Japanese man who went missing in Thailand on Aug. 5 is likely to have been killed by his Japanese acquaintances, Thai police said Monday. The police suspect that two Japanese men were involved in murdering Takahide Tanahashi, 33, author of a guidebook on how to enjoy the easy life overseas, for money after having been deceived by the victim in online foreign exchange transactions. Friends of Tanahashi and his former Thai girlfriend reported his disappearance to Bangkok police after they failed to reach him.

A naked body of an Asian man found Aug. 9 on the roadside in the woods of a national park in the northeastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima is thought to be that of Tanahashi, but forensic experts are awaiting DNA samples from his mother living in Japan. Pol. Lt. Gen. Aswin Kwanmuang, head of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, told reporters that Tanahashi’s friends confirmed that a wristwatch found dumped in a trash box at a gas station on the way to the national park belonged to Tanahashi. Forensic experts will also examine shoes and clothing found in the trash to see if they belong to Tanahashi. From closed-circuit television in the apartment where Tanahashi lived, police learned that he left his room in the morning of Aug. 5 and that not long after he left, a man wearing a cap and gloves entered his room. ‘‘The man went into the room for about 10 minutes and left with a backpack. Two computer notebooks were also missing from the room. There must be some data in the notebooks the culprits wanted to obtain and it might relate to some kinds of online transaction. They must have known each other well,’’ said Pol. Maj. Gen. Suchart Muenkaew, a deputy head of the Metropolitan Police Bureau. Surveillance cameras also captured the same man withdrawing money twice from Tanahashi’s account via automated teller machines at the apartment and nearby it, according to Suchart. A total of 230,000 baht ($7,000) was withdrawn from Tanahashi’s account at a local commercial bank and some transactions were also detected in Japan after he went missing, the police official said. Tanahashi had made his living in Thailand by online stock trading, according to Thai police. His book titled ‘‘Sotokomori no Susume’’ was published in July this year under the pen name of Makoto Yasuda.

Kyodo

4 Comments

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  8iamhappy8 at 07:51 AM JST - 19th August

  "Tanahashi had made his living in Thailand by online stock trading,"

  Must be a pretty successful stock trader to be able to make a living off of it. The pros of such a living: You can "work" from anywhere in the world with internet connection. The BIGGEST con: Sometime, you have to wait a darn LONG time (like +6 months) before a real opportunity comes along.

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  sensei258 at 07:53 AM JST - 19th August

  Good investigative procedure checking trash cans, but did they do it before or after finding the body? I think there may be too many "must(s)" in the Thai police report. A little early in the investigation to make such statements, don't you think? "Perhaps" would have been a better choice of words.

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  meanmutha at 04:58 PM JST - 19th August

  more to come... I have seen these kinda dudes pop up like weeds... after 11 years... even the wife agrees when I point them out in public.

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  PLANETCOP123 at 11:26 AM JST - 21st August

  hmm some people ashamed and dishonoured and thus this deed was done!.

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