Cyanide poisoning in Thai hotel
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https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/17/asia/cyanide-thai-hotel-deaths-intl-hnk/index.html
Six people, including two US citizens, who were found dead inside a luxury hotel room in central Bangkok likely drank from tea and coffee cups laced with cyanide following a dispute linked to bad investments, Thai police said Wednesday.
The grisly discovery was made on Tuesday when staff at the five-star Grand Hyatt Erawan in the Thai capital entered the fifth-floor suite after the guests missed check out by more than 24 hours.
When police arrived at the scene, they found the bodies of three men and three women, a table full of untouched food wrapped in plastic and used cups with traces of a white powder. The door was locked from the inside, police said, though a backdoor was left unlocked.
The question police are now trying to answer is whether the victims were murdered or chose to take their lives. Wednesday’s press conference suggested police were leaning toward the former.
Deputy Metropolitan Police Commissioner Noppasin Poonsawat told reporters they believe one of the members of the group may have poisoned the five others.
That person, police said, had ordered the food and tea to the room and “looked under stress” when staff arrived.
Noppasin said from interviews with hotel staff, one of the members of the group was alone in the room when the food arrived and was later joined by the other guests.
He added that the incident was likely linked to a “personal matter” and not related to organized crime as interviews carried out with relatives of the dead indicated a dispute over debt.
“One of the relatives said one of the deceased was an investment agent and all (the deceased) invested, but the business was not going as expected. They made an appointment to discuss the matter in Thailand,” Noppasin said.
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That was a crazy incident. Hearing a lot about it. Really really nice hotel.
Actually right next to the Erawan Shrine, which was bombed a few years ago.
