Two Japanese gang members suspected of killing a compatriot and dismembering his body in Nonthaburi province last month have fled to a neighbouring country, police said on Friday, with a police source identifying it as Laos.
Pol Lt Gen Chirasan Kaeosaengake, the commissioner of Provincial Police Region 1, told reporters that Thailand has sought the neighbouring country's cooperation in searching for the two suspects.
He did not identify it but the source said they had fled to Laos.
Earlier this week, police obtained arrest warrants for Takuya Kato, 49, and Hiroto Suzuki, 27, on suspicion of murdering fellow gangster Ryosuke Kabashima, 47, in Nonthaburi.
The gang was operating a phone scam targeting Japanese citizens in their home country, according to local media reports.
Kritsakorn Jaiphitak, who was arrested on Tuesday, has confessed to police that he was hired to drive the three Japanese men to a warehouse in Nonthaburi. He reportedly told investigators that the one sitting in the front seat next to the driver was shot from the rear seat after the three Japanese men quarreled.
He told police the two Japanese suspects dismembered the victim's body and instructed him to drive them to get rid of plastic bags containing its parts in Nonthaburi, according to the police.
The victim's skull was discovered in the province earlier this week with bullet holes, while other body parts were found last week in plastic bags discarded in a wasteland area.