Mar 19, 2008, 2:29 GMT
Bangkok - A Thai fisherman who is the prime suspect in the brutal weekend killing of a Swedish woman has turned himself over to police on Phuket Island after they issued a warrant for his arrest, media reports said Wednesday.
Akaradej Tankae, 31, confessed to police that he had killed Charlotta Hanna and then fled to Song Island, also known as Victoria Point, in neighbouring Myanmar, Major General Sawat Boonfueng, regional deputy police chief, told the Thai News Agency.
Police issued an arrest warrant for Akaradej Tuesday and posted a 100,000-baht (3,175-dollar) reward for information leading to his arrest.
Akaradej said he killed Hanna, 27, because he was suffering family stress, Sawat said.
The case has damaged Phuket's reputation as a safe tourist destination.
Hanna 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 late Saturday or early Sunday while taking a walk on the beach.
Tourism and Sports Minister Weerasak Kohsurat visited the island Monday to speed up a resolution of the case, which has raised concerns about security for female visitors to Thai beach resorts.
Weerasak, who assumed his post February 6, reportedly suggested passing out whistles to all female tourists on 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.
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