Authorities yesterday intensified their search for a Lao banker who was allegedly abducted in Mukdahan province on Sunday.
About 60 police officers in Mukdahan yesterday searched for Atiwa Kettawong, 44, banker for Banque pour le Commerce Exterieur Lao (BCEL) or Laos international commercial bank, after his relatives lodged a complaint with police on Tuesday that he had disappeared from Muang district.
Police said he was carrying more than 100,000 baht and was wearing gold jewellery including a necklace and a bracelet, weighing eight baht each, and a one-baht weight gold ring.
Theft, personal conflict and career issues were thought to be three possible motives.
Mr Atiwa was about to take up a position as bank manager at a BCEL branch in Laos's Xeno city. He was reportedly also appointed as a manager of the Savan-Xeno Special Economic Zone.
Police found Mr Atiwa's black sedan bearing Laos licence plates in front of a restaurant on Mukdahan-Don Tan road in Muang district on Wednesday.
CCTV footage captured a tall man with a white long-sleeved shirt driving the car into the restaurant's parking lot on Sunday. He then left the vehicle and got into an unidentified pickup truck.
Police, however, said the man caught in the footage was not the victim. He could be someone who intended to dress in a similar fashion to the banker.
At the scene, police also found a necklace hook, a gold Buddha amulet frame and a blood trail. Police said they knew whose blood it was but would not release a name as it would affect the investigation.
Penikhom Chaisiri, 50, a relative of Mr Atiwa, said she went out to have dinner with Mr Atiwa on Sunday. He also told her he would go to Xeno city the next morning.