The foreigners whose bodies were found by staff at Bangkok’s luxury Grand Hyatt Erawan hotel on Tuesday evening had been murdered, Thai police said at a news briefing Wednesday.
Traces of poison were found in cups in the room where the three men and three women, two of whom were Vietnamese Americans and four Vietnamese nationals, were found.
“We found cyanide in the teacups. One of them was definitely the culprit,” Police Maj. Gen. Noppasin Punsawat, Bangkok deputy police chief said, adding that CCTV cameras showed no one else had entered the room.
Noppasin said he believed the murders were sparked by a business dispute between U.S. citizens Sherine Chong, 56, and Dang Hung Van, 55, and the other four. He said Chong was given an equivalent of 10 million baht (US$278,000) to invest in the construction of a hospital in Japan but was suspected of cheating her partners after the project made no progress.
“This case is about personal conflict, no trans-border criminals were involved,” he said.
Police identified the four Vietnamese citizens as a couple: Pham Hong Thanh, 49, and Nguyen Thi Phuong, 46, who they believe had been cheated by Chong, along with Nguyen Thi Phuong Lan, 47, and Tran Dinh Phu, 37.
A seventh person, thought to have been part of the group, returned to Vietnam on July 10, police said.
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Hotel security staff entered Suite 502 from the back door after the group failed to check out on Tuesday. The front door to the room had been locked from the inside. Police said the bodies had probably been there for around 24 hours, although they are still waiting for the results of an official autopsy.
The FBI and Vietnamese officials are working alongside Thai police to track the group’s movements and interview any witnesses, Noppasin said.
Vietnam’s ambassador to Thailand Pham Viet Hung met with Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin on Tuesday to discuss the case, Vietnamese media reported.
The U.S. State Department said it was aware of the deaths of two of its citizens.
“We offer our sincere condolences to the families on their loss. We are closely monitoring the situation and stand ready to provide consular assistance to those families,” spokesman Matthew Miller said at a briefing in Washington.
After visiting the scene Tuesday night, Thai prime minister Srettha ordered a swift investigation to avoid any negative impact on tourism.
The 380-room Grand Hyatt Erawan is in the upscale Ratchaprasong district, an area popular with tourists. It is just down the street from the high-end Siam Paragon shopping mall where, last October, a 14-year old Thai boy shot dead two women from China and Myanmar and injured five other people.
Edited by Mike Firn and Taejun Kang.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Pimukk Rakkanam for RFA.
This post was originally published on Radio Free.