“We will have to investigate further before we can determine any link. At this point, we have not ruled out any possibility,” the National Police Office’s deputy government spokesman Pol Colonel Krissana Pattanacharoen said.

Police identified 23 sites as possible crime scenes in a degraded forest area in Ban Phue district last week, with bones being retrieved from at least eight of the areas. Forensic tests are being conducted to verify if all of the bones are human.

“Results should come out in two weeks,” Krissana said.

Deputy National Police General Chalermkiat Srivorakan took a helicopter ride to the forest area yesterday to verify reports that several human victims may have been killed and their bodies burnt there.

Money lending

“I will follow up on this case. All relevant teams are instructed to act fast in a bid to bring the culprits to justice as soon as possible,” Chalermkiat said.

When asked about reports that police may have been involved, he promised not to spare anyone involved in the suspected crimes.

Meanwhile, two female residents of Udon Thani volunteered to undergo DNA tests to verify if some of remains belonged to their missing relative Narong Somdee, 56. Narong went missing in 2014 and reportedly owed money to several loan sharks.

“The total debts were less than Bt100,000,” his relative Pienta Photiwong said.

Another source said authorities had already confirmed that some bones belonged to a woman who was allegedly engaged in illegal money lending and also disappeared in 2014.

Krissana said the investigation would focus on missing people. “We will then check if they have had any conflict with anyone and who might have been responsible for their disappearances,” he said.