SUSPECT IN PHUKET FLEES THAILAND FOR THE MURDER OF A RUSSIAN MAN

SUSPECT IN PHUKET FLEES THAILAND FOR THE MURDER OF A RUSSIAN MAN

PHUKET: According to police in Phuket, the Tajikistani suspect in the murder of 41-year-old Russian citizen Mr. Artur Mkhitarian has left Thailand and is now in Turkey.

On Wednesday morning, the body of Mr. Mkhitarian was found at Soi Chao Fah 67, Chalong Sub-district, at a leased home perched on a hill. He had died from a stabbing. According to police, Mr. Mkhitarian was killed between eight and nine hours before his body was found.

The victim’s wife, Miss Anna, had reported him missing on Tuesday evening after he failed to return home. She and a friend, Mr. Axandr, contacted the car rental company that Mr. Mkhitarian had used, and they were able to track the car’s GPS to the marijuana farm where the body was found.

Witnesses living near the scene of the crime reported hearing a commotion on the night of the murder, March 12, but they were unable to understand what was being said as the people involved were not speaking Thai.

Mr. Mkhitarian had arrived in Phuket on January 28, 2024, and his visa was due to expire on April 26, 2024. Miss Anna, 32, said that she and her husband had been living in Phuket with his parents and their two children. She last saw her husband alive on March 12 and she was unable to contact him after 5:00 pm that day.

Miss Anna reported her husband missing to the police, and they were able to track the car’s GPS to the marijuana farm. The body was found inside the house.

Police believe that the house where the murder took place was rented by a Thai woman named Ms. Khanitha, who has a foreign boyfriend. A Tajikistani national named Mr. Bakhtovar Murozoda was also staying at the house.

Mr. Bakhtovar fled the house after Mr. Mkhitarian disappeared and took a flight from Phuket airport to Istanbul, Turkey at 9:38 pm on March 12.

On March 14, police officers found a red Honda PCX motorcycle that the suspect had abandoned at Phuket International Airport on the international side. They examined it for latent fingerprints and blood stains in order to gather proof for an arrest warrant for Mr. Bakhtovar..