An elderly Caucasian man, whose dismembered body was found stuffed in a freezer during a police raid on a passport forgery gang's hideout, is believed to have died about eight years ago, making it difficult to identify him.
The body parts were found last Friday at a shophouse on Sukhumvit Soi 56.
Investigators believe one of the three suspects arrested after the raid bought the freezer in the Rama IV area in 2008, Metropolitan Police Division 5 chief Somprasong Yenthuam said Tuesday.
This new piece of information has led authorities to assume the victim died quite some time ago, Pol Maj Gen Somprasong said.
On Monday, Chulalongkorn Hospital's head of forensic medicine, Udomsak Hoonwijit, said the body parts had been frozen for an extended period.
One of the three suspects, earlier identified as British national Peter Andrew Colter, and reportedly married to a Thai woman, had told police the freezer was moved from his former house on Ekkamai Soi 12 to the shophouse on Sukhumvit Soi 56. Mr Colter said he had no idea what was inside the freezer.
Police found several passports belonging to him with different names, making it difficult to determine exactly where he is from. Police believe he is the gang's leader and has knowledge about the corpse, Pol Gen Somprasong said. However, the man has been tight-lipped, providing no information about the victim.
His alleged accomplices -- Aaron Thomas Gabel and Jame Douglas Eger -- have been confirmed by the US embassy in Bangkok to be US nationals.
Officers have questioned three individuals who moved the freezer from Mr Colter's former house. However, due to the ongoing investigation, their accounts must remain confidential for the moment, according to police.
Meanwhile, a team of forensic doctors conducted a new postmortem examination Tuesday on the body and are expected to share results with officers Wednesday, city police chief Sanit Mahathavorn said. Investigators are waiting for complete autopsy findings from the hospital.
The foreign suspects are currently facing multiple charges, including concealing a corpse. Investigators are gathering evidence to press murder charges, Pol Maj Gen Somprasong.
A source said the victim's throat was likely slashed before being beheaded. However, he said, officers still need to wait for the autopsy.
