Two housekeepers say a freezer with a dismembered body inside was moved to the Phra Khanong residence they worked at four months ago and they were instructed to keep away from it.
Three foreign nationals detained after a police raid and shootout on Friday at the five-storey residence in Sukhumvit Soi 56 have been charged with eight offences.
Police said the charges included resisting arrest, illegal possession of firearms and ammunition, forging official documents and concealing a corpse.
Although there are doubts about the legitimacy of their travel documents, two were identified from passports as Americans James Douglas Eger, 66, and Aaron Thomas Gabel, 33. Both appeared in the Phra Khanong court yesterday before being taken to the Bangkok Remand Centre.
A third man was identified as either Peter Andrew Colter, 58, from North Ireland, or William Peter Johnson, 63, from the US. He is being detained at the Police General Hospital after suffering injuries in the raid.
He allegedly shot and injured a police officer during the raid and faces additional charges of attempting to kill an on-duty officer and illegal entry into the country.
The Phra Khanong court granted police a request to detain them until Oct 5 for further questioning.
City police chief Pol Gen Sanit Mahathavorn said yesterday the suspects denied all the charges.
He said police expect to receive an autopsy report on the dismembered body soon from Chulalongkorn Hospital.
Quiet again: The Sukhumvit Soi 56 residence was raided on Friday. (Photo by Chaiyot Yongcharoenchai)
He said Myanmar nationals who worked as housekeepers said the freezer was moved from a house in Soi Pridi Banomyong 37 four months ago and the pair was ordered to keep away from the freezer.
Gen Sanit said Mr Colter, who claims he is a chemist and married to a Thai woman, said the freezer belonged to a friend who died of cancer three months ago. He told police he had no idea what was inside. However, police yesterday found the key to the freezer in his bedroom.
A police source said another US passport seized during the raid may help identify the body in the freezer. Immigration records show the passport holder entered the country in July 2006 via Padang Besar checkpoint. After reporting to immigration on Jan 6 this year, there was no record of that person leaving.
Pol Maj Gen Surachet Hakpal, commander of Tourism Police, alleged Mr Colter was the ringleader of a transnational passport forgery gang and had stayed in Thailand for eight or nine years. Immigration authorities say they have no record of Mr Colter, while Mr Eger entered the country on Nov 20 last year and Mr Gabel on March 7, 2014.
Gen Sanit said US and UK authorities had been asked to examine the seized passports and the fingerprints of the suspects will be sent to those countries for verification.
One neighbour of the Soi 56 residence said the owner of the house told her the Buri Ram wife of "Peter" bought the dwelling for 7.5 million cash a year ago.
Soyson Beer, 43, said as soon as the purchase was completed a group of labourers started renovations, which took three months.
Despite this, she only ever saw lights on on the fourth floor of the building. She said the husband and wife kept to themselves, and were regularly visited by Mr Eger and Mr Gabel.
"They spend most of the time locked inside their house," Ms Soyson said. "They never said hi to any of us. I sometimes saw the farang man who owns the house smoking in front of his house but we never talked to each other."
Another neighbour, Mr Rong, 45, said the couple lived peacefully. "They never made any noise and they never had any parties, and they don't even fight."
Ms Soyson said the only time her suspicions were aroused was when the same three vehicles started showing up at night several months ago.
"I saw a Mercedes-Benz, a Toyota Fourtuner and a Toyota Vigo truck take turns coming to the house. They parked on the street in front of the house at night after 9pm. They came at least three days a week and always at nighttime. They parked the car, turned off the headlights, but keep the engine running without turning it off for hours, then the cars would leave."
In custody: A man identified through documents as Aaron Thomas Gabel, 33, is surrounded by police at the Phra Khanong court on Saturday. (Photo by Pattarapong Chatpattarasill)
