Two speedboat drivers have been arrested on charges of sexually assaulting two Chinese women tourists on Koh Larn, off Pattaya, in Chon Buri.
Surachai Harnchiangchai, 22, and Peema Rornor, 19 were apprehended on Thursday by tourist police led by Pol Maj Piyapong Ensan, a Pattaya tourist police inspector, Daily News Online reported.
The arrests came after the Chinese women filed a complaint with Pol Lt Chorpraka Prueksachart, an investigation officer at Pattaya, on Wednesday.
They alleged the suspects, speedboat drivers at a tour firm, had approached them in the evening of Aug 31 while they were visiting Koh Larn.
The two men had persuaded them to go and see the monkeys on the island. Instead of taking them there the suspects threatened them with screwdrivers and took them to Nang Nuan beach on the island. There, they raped them.
The victims said they felt embrassed after the incident and dared not tell others. However, they later found out that their passports were missing as they were in their bags also allegedly stolen by the suspects.
They contacted the Chinese embassy, whose staff later took them to file a complaint with Pattaya police, according to Daily News Online.
Earlier story:
A man suspected of sexually assaulting two Chinese women on Koh Larn, a popular tourist island off Pattaya in Chon Buri province, was detained on Thursday for questioning.
Tourist police arrested the man, who had yet to be identified, on Koh Larn in tambon Na Kluea of Bang Lamung district following complaints that two Chinese women had been sexually assaulted.
On Wednesday night, Pol Lt Chorpraka Prueksachart, an investigator at Pattaya police station, and tourist police interviewed the two Chinese tourists.
The women alleged they had been sexually molested by a man while visiting the island that day, Thai media reported on Thursday. A Chinese interpreter was present during the seven hours of questioning.