Three Germans deny killing and dismembering wealthy Pattaya property broker
PATTAYA: Three German nationals arrested for the murder of a 62-year-old German businessman whose dismembered body was found in a freezer at a rented house have denied all charges.
The fourth suspect, a Pakistani with Thai nationality, was arrested in Kanchanaburi on Wednesday afternoon while trying to flee across the border to Myanmar, said police.
Shahrukh Karim Uddin, 27, was questioned at the Muang district police station in Kanchanaburi before being taken to Pattaya.
Pol Col Tawee Kudthalaeng, the Nong Prue police chief, said the three suspects were Ms Petra Christl Grundgreif, 54; Olaf Thorsten Brinkmann, 52; and Ms Nicole Frevel, 52. All were German citizens and all denied any involvement.
Ms Frevel, a disabled woman, rented the house where the body of Hans Peter Mack was found in a freezer on Monday. He had been missing since July 4.
Police investigators on Wednesday continued questioning Mr Brinkmann, the alleged leader. All three would then be taken to Pattaya Provincial Court, where police would apply to detain them for another 12 days while the investigation continued.
Shahrukh Karim Uddin, 27, a Pakistani with Thai nationality, was arrested in Kanchanaburi on Wednesday afternoon while trying to flee across the border to Myanmar. (Photo: Piyarach Chongcharoen)
Pol Col Tawee said Ms Grundgreif suffered chest pains while being held in a police station cell. She was treated by medics from the Sawang Boriroonthamsathan rescue foundation.
Ms Frevel was also treated, for a knife wound. She had slit her wrist.
Ms Grundgreif, Mr Brinkmann and Mr Uddin are suspected of using an electric saw to cut Mack’s body into 13 parts, which were put into three plastic bags. The bags were put in the freezer.
Surveillance camera footage showed Mack had met Ms Grundgreif in a café in Nong Prue, Bang Lamung district, on July 4. They later drove to a pool villa in Soi Chaiyaphreuk 1, where Mack was believed to have been murdered.
Investigators believe the other suspects were waiting for Mack at the villa and forced him to transfer money into their bank accounts before killing him and cutting up his body.
According to Mack’s 24-year-old Thai wife, he left their house in Swiss Paradise housing estate in Pattaya on July 4 to meet a foreign property broker. That was the last time she saw him.
Five days later, Mack’s silver Mercedes-Benz E350 coupe was found in the CC Condominium parking lot on Khao Noi Road in tambon Nong Prue. Inside the car police found stains of a chemical cleanser, apparently used in an attempt to destroy evidence.