A Spanish man who is the prime suspect in the gruesome murder of a fellow Spaniard was arrested in Cambodia, where he is believed to have fled after the victim’s dismembered body was recovered piece by piece from Bangkok’s Chao Phraya River, police said yesterday.
The suspect identified as Artur Segarra Princep, 36, was arrested on Sunday evening at a restaurant in the Cambodian coastal town of Sihanoukville, where he had checked into a guesthouse a few days earlier, regional police chief General Chuon Narin said.
“We received a request from Thai police to arrest this man, and after launching an investigation we found him,” Chuon Narin said. “We will hand him over to Thailand.”
Photo: AP
Thai police have identified the victim as David Bernat of Spain, who was described as a consultant. They have speculated that he was abducted, tortured and forced to transfer a large amount of money before being killed.
Thai police yesterday sent a helicopter to Cambodia to try to expedite the suspect’s return, said a senior Thai police official in Bangkok who attended a meeting at Bangkok police headquarters on the murder case. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Senior Thai police yesterday met in Bangkok about the murder case. An official at the meeting said a helicopter was sent to Cambodia.
Thai police have declined to publicly comment on media reports of large transfers of money from Bernat’s bank account to accounts in Spain and Singapore.
Police had obtained records showing that Segarra had withdrawn money from ATMs in the area as recently as Thursday, and also had video of him with an unidentified woman and in a black Isuzu pickup truck.
Thai immigration police said Segarra had visited Thailand frequently, but his latest visa expired late last year.
Records show that Bernat also visited Thailand many times, arriving most recently on Jan. 19 on a flight from Iran. He was last seen alive leaving his Bangkok apartment on Jan. 20.
Medical examiners said they believe he died between Jan. 25 and Jan. 27, with the cause being suffocation.
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