Gang mugs two British women at Thai beach murder scene
A pair of British women were reportedly mugged by a Thai motorbike gang on the same beach where two backpackers were brutally murdered.
The incident happened just one night before the killings took place, on Sunday (Sept 14), The Telegraph newspaper reported.
The women were robbed of their bags, cameras and iPhones by the group of four Thai men, according to James Isaacs, a British tourist and the victims' friend.
The robbery took place on Koh Tao island's Sairee beach - where islanders found the disfigured bodies of David Miller, a 24-year-old from Jersey, and Hannah Witheridge, a 23-year-old from Great Yarmouth, at around 6am last Monday.
See earlier report here.
The robbery came as one of Thailand's top newspapers claimed that the investigation into the killing of the couple had been "rushed, rash, incompetent and speculative".
Police confirmed they were looking into a possible altercation between a Thai man and the murdered couple.
Officers have blamed their murders on a gang of at least three unidentified "attackers", including two Asian men.
"It could have been them," Mr Isaacs, who is from Bournemouth, said of the thieves, according to the Bangkok Post. "It was literally the same spot."
No arrests
Kissana Phathanacharoen, a police spokesperson who is on Koh Tao, said he could not immediately confirm if police knew of or were investigating the robbery.
Sometimes tourists did not file official police reports, he added.
No arrests have been made in the double murder of Mr Miller and Ms Witheridge.
Thai police chiefs have rejected claims they "messed up" their response to the murders.
General Somyot Poompanmoung, Thailand's most senior police official, visited Koh Tao on Saturday vowing to do "his best" to solve the crime.
Semen found on the body of one of the two British tourists murdered on Koh Tao island in Thailand's Surat Thani province last Sunday will be examined in a Singapore laboratory, he added.
Sources: Telegraph, AFP
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