According to Pronin, the video recording was made by one of outside iconoscopes, located not far from the place of the crime. Russian Ambassador to Thailand Yevgeny Afanasyev met personally senior investigators on Sunday.
In the opinion of operatives, the case looks very complicated, since reasons for the murder are murky. Over 100 policemen participate in the investigation of the crime. The investigation examines various versions, apart from robbery, since personal belongings of the girls were not stolen.
One of witnesses who turned to be not far from the place of the murder, heard shots. Then, he saw a young man, running away from the beach. The supposed criminal ran to the road and sped away on a motorcycle.
Policemen who came to the place of the accident, found out that the Russian girls were killed with four shots. There were no traits of struggle on their bodies or violence. Next to them, there were half-empty drinks, a handset and other personal belongings of the girls.
According to some information, they lived at the Dragon Beach Resort Hotel and were to leave the resort on March 3. They had been seen the last time on Friday evening, resting on the beach.
Police find leads in Russian tourists' murder
Thai police investigators have produced some clues suggesting that a gang of foreigners may have been involved in the murder of two Russian tourists at Jomtien beach in the popular seaside resort of Pattaya on Saturday morning.
Police Lieutenant General Assawin Kwanmuang, Region 2 Provincial Police commissioner, said he had instructed the police investigating team to seek an early arrest of the culprit after close examination of
the victims' holiday snapshots taken while visiting some tourist attractions as well as security camera images which found that a gang of foreigners, in particular "The Chopper Gang", a local group in
Pattaya, may have been involved in the killings.
The police officer did not provide more details about the so-called gang, but indicated that mobile phone records of the two women are being thoroughly checked for further evidence as they used local simcards to call in and out prior to the killings.
Earlier police offered a Bt100,000 (about US$3,000) reward for the capture of the gunman. They also released a video monitor sequence of a tall man aged about 30, captured by security camera, parking a
motorcycle at a beachside road, running to the two Russian women and shooting the pair before fleeing on the motorcycle.
Gen. Assawin said Sunday that the women worked as telephone operators in Russia and were visiting Thailand for the first time with a tour group. They had noting to do with illegal transnational prostitution,
according to personal records shown by a representative from the Russian Embassy.
He also ruled out the possibility of robbery as the victims' belongings were left untouched.
Pattaya, about 110 kilometres (70 miles) southeast of Bangkok, is popular among foreign holidaymakers. The beach resort attracts tens of thousands of Russian tourists every year.
Russia ready to help in Thailand investigation into tourists murder Russia is ready to render assistance for the investigation in Thailand into the murder of Russian tourists in Pattaya, a Russian embassy source in Bangkok told Itar-Tass.
All the local police forces have joined the investigation. The authorities do everything to catch the murderer. However, there is no definite circle of suspects yet. The case is very complicated, since the crime motives are unclear. Various versions are under consideration, including involvement of local and Russian criminals.
Everybody with whom the young women talked after arriving in Thailand are questioned. Russian Consul Vladimir Pronin said nobody of the Russian tourists refused to answer questions of investigators. Consulate representatives and Pronin personally are present at the questioning and help to translate documents that are needed for the investigation.
A 100,000-bat (3,000 dollars) reward is promised for information about the murderer.
Police released a sketch yesterday of a man suspected of killing two Russian women in Pattaya on Saturday.
Officers said the image was taken from video footage from security cameras at a convenience store near where Tatiana Tsimfer, 30, and Liubov Svirkova, 25, were found dead in deckchairs at 5am on Jomtien beach on February 24.
Police did not clarify whether the mugshot of the unidentified man was produced from the blurry camera image - later enhanced electronically - or if it simply matched a profile in their criminal records after the visual enhancement was done.
It shows a man who appears to be a Thai in his 20s.
Pattaya City mayor Nirand Watthanasartsathorn had said earlier that police were looking for a tall foreign man, possibly from a Middle Eastern country.
Head investigator Pol Lt-General Assawin Khwanmueng said later the sketch was drawn based on accounts of an eyewitness now under protection. The officer said the witness called the sketch a "remarkable resemblance" of the gunman he saw shooting the victims.
Prize money for information leading to the arrest of the killer/s was increased to Bt500,000 yesterday from the original Bt100,000. The police hotline is 081-875-1637.
A police source said earlier that Svirkova complained to her mother she felt uneasy being wooed by some men and had felt like going home, according to a police interview with the mother.
"She told her mum Pattaya was a nice place and Thai people were great, but she felt like returning home because some men were always trying to chat to her. Then she hung up," the source said.
The mother said Svirkova's call showed no sign of fear or worry of being followed by her admirers. However, Russian media had earlier published an interview with the father of Tsimfer, who said she had sounded scared during their last chat, saying she had had some sort of threat.
The source said police had interviewed five Russian men who had hung around with both women for several days before they were shot, and that two of the men said they had sex with the women - but had nothing to do with their murders.
The source added the women also made friends with a group of foreign chopper motorcycle riders who hang out around Marine Plaza.
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