Thai DPM: Progress on Chinese crew massacre will be seen next week

BANGKOK, November 1 (TNA) - Thai Deputy Prime Minister Police Captain Chalerm Yubumrung, who oversees national security, said on Tuesday he believed that progress would be seen in a case in which a group of Chinese captains and crew were shot dead on board two vessels in the Mekong River in the Thai North early last month. Police Captain Chalerm told reporters that Thai police have gathered grounded evidence against nine suspects who will be sternly and impartially prosecuted under the Thai laws. The deputy premier noted that he, himself, has supervised the Thai government's investigation of the scandal to avoid adverse effects on sound bilateral relations between Bangkok and Beijing. The 13 Chinese captains and crew were killed on October 5 when their two vessels, Hua Ping and Yu Xing 8, were sailing near the Golden Triangle, a joint offshore border between Thailand, Laos and Myanmar. Nine Thai soldiers of the Pha Muang Task Force reported themselves to local police in Chiang Saen area of Thailand's northern Chiang Rai Province, confessing that they have involved in the murder of the 13 Chinese nationals. (TNA)