PATTAYA, THAILAND – Four murder suspects accused of killing five people were denied bail on Saturday. The court ruled they pose a flight risk and face severe charges.
Thana Kerdthong, Thongchai Srinil, Atsadang Chuwong and Chatchanan Paen-iam were paraded before the Pattaya Provincial Court as relatives of the victims screamed in anger. Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul flew to Chonburi and demanded the harshest possible punishment.
Four suspects paraded, no bail granted
At 11.30am on Saturday, special forces led the four men in a line to a prison van outside Huai Yai police station. Anutin stood nearby as the victims’ families shouted their fury.
Thongchai, known as Thong, wept. Thana, known as Pong, showed no emotion. The court rejected all bail applications with a blunt reason: the charges are extremely serious, the penalties high, and the suspects had already tried to flee.
Who is Pong, the alleged ringleader
Thana Kerdthong, 43, is the central figure. He was released from prison just two months before the murders – a convicted thief and fence. Locals told Thai media he acted as a semi-official police assistant for years, always armed and carrying a badge with an official emblem.
A woman who said she was Pong’s former partner described a terrifying pattern. He forced her to watch videos of violent crimes, told her about past killings, and once made her stand in a freshly dug hole, threatening to bury her alive. She said she begged and cried until he let her go. A police report is said to back her account.
Thong, Ball, Fluke – the other three men
Thongchai Srinil, 39, claims he acted under duress – that Pong threatened his family. Investigators are checking whether this is a defence tactic. His wife earlier told media she believes Pong dragged him into the group.
Atsadang Chuwong, known as Ball, and Chatchanan Paen-iam, known as Fluke, were involved in the second case – the disappearance of a Thai family in mid-June. After their arrest, they led police to a coconut plantation where the three victims were found, close to where the Russian siblings had been buried.
Fake police, real weapons – the deadly pattern
Both cases followed the same script. The gang posed as police officers, using disguises, fake ID cards and guns. For the Russian siblings, Pong and Thong stopped the motorcycle near a highway bridge at 4.33am. For the Thai family, all four broke into their home in Bang Lamung, pretending to carry out a search.
The motive in both cases was robbery: the motorcycle in the first, the family’s pickup truck in the second. The Thai family had vanished in mid-June and were reported missing, but the case went cold until the Russian siblings’ murders led police to the gang.
Without the solving of the other case, we would never have known what happened to our family.
said the sister of one Thai victim, in tears before media on Saturday.
PM Anutin apologises and demands action
Prime Minister Anutin cancelled a planned visit to Suphan Buri and flew to Huai Yai with National Police Chief Kittirat Phanphet and the Chonburi governor. At the site where the Russian siblings were found, he publicly apologised to the family and to Russia.
When pressed for the death penalty, Anutin said the law allows all possibilities but the court decides. He warned that repeat offenders released from prison cannot expect leniency. Pong had been freed just two months before the murders.
Anutin also vowed to tighten monitoring of released convicts and improve cooperation between prison authorities and police. National Police Chief Kittirat confirmed all confessions are being cross-checked forensically, and investigators are looking into whether the gang is linked to other unsolved cases in the region.