Phuket police issue arrest warrant for Swede's killer

Mar 18, 2008, 4:50 GMT

Bangkok - Thai police issued an arrest warrant Tuesday for a prime suspect in the brutal murder of a Swedish woman on Phuket Island over the weekend.

'This case has really hurt Phuket's reputation,' said Phuket Governor Nilan Gallayanamit at a press conference announcing the arrest warrant for Akardej Tankae, a local fisherman who is now the chief suspect in the murder of Swedish tourist Charlotta Hanna over the weekend.

Authorities have also offered a 100,000 baht reward (3,175 dollars) reward for information leading to the arrest of Akardej, 32.

Hanna, 27, was found hacked to death on Mai Khao beach on the island, 660 kilometres south on Bangkok, where she had rented a bungalow.

Police said they believe she was killed some time between 11:30 pm Saturday and 1 am Sunday while taking a walk on the beach.

Thailand's Tourism and Sports Minister Weerasak Kohsurat visited the resort island on Monday to speed up a resolution of the murder case, which has raised concerns about security for female visitors to Thai beach resorts.

Weerasak, who assumed his post on February 6, reportedly suggested passing out whistles to all female tourists to Phuket as a means of protecting them during midnight strolls on beaches.

Thai authorities might also consider passing out whistles to female visitors to nearby Samui Island, where British tourist Katherine Horton, 21, was raped and murdered by two Thai fishermen on January 2, 2006.

Horton's assailants were sentenced to life imprisonment.

Phuket is one of Thailand's leading tourist resorts. Tourism arrivals to the island and nearby resorts such as Phi Phi and Phang Nga dropped after the December 26, 2004, tsunami, which claimed 5,400 lives in Thailand, half of them foreign tourists.

European tourists, especially Scandinavians, started to return to Phuket in large numbers in 2006 and 2007.