World Desk : dhakamirror.com
Thai police say they have arrested a woman suspected of killing 12 of her friends and acquaintances by poisoning them with cyanide.
According to Thai media, Sararat Rangsiwuthaporn, 35, was charged with first-degree murder on Tuesday after her friend, 32-year-old Siriporn Khanwong, collapsed during a trip with Sararat to the weste rn Thai province of Ratchaburi on April 14. Siriporn died shortly thereafter, with autopsy results detecting cyanide in her system and showing heart failure as the cause of death.
Police found a bottle of cyanide in Sararat’s possession during her arrest, according to a report by The Nation newspaper in Thailand. The alleged killer’s ex-husband is a senior police officer, and her older sister owns a pharmacy in Ratchaburi where police found suspicious capsules, according to Coconuts.
Citing an anonymous source, The Nation said that police have compiled a list of 12 people, aged between 33 and 44, who died of heart-related conditions between December 2020 and April 2023 after making contact with Sararat.
Thai deputy national police chief Surachate Hakparn said on Wednesday that there are two more possible victims in connection with Sararat, bringing the total number of suspected killings to 12. At least two of the victims were policewomen.
Sararat’s lawyer said her client has denied all charges.
Authorities are investigating whether Sararat’s alleged victims were targeted for financial reasons. Most of their families have reported either personal possessions missing from their bodies or money missing from their bank accounts.
Shortly after Siriporn’s death, her mother filed a police report saying her daughter’s money and jewellery had gone missing. Another woman who had reportedly loaned Sararat 250,000 baht ($7,330) told police that she had felt tightness in her chest and lost feeling in her hands after taking a pill offered to her by the alleged killer at a mall in the western province of Kanchanaburi. She was immediately sent to hospital and is now safe.
“If the evidence shows she has committed other murders, then the suspect will fit the description of a serial killer,” said police major-general Montri Theskhan, chief of Thailand’s Crime Suppression Division.
Police say investigations are still continuing.
