One of three suspects behind the murder of a South Korean tourist in Pattaya, Thailand, was extradited home from Cambodia, nearly two months after his arrest, officials said Wednesday.
The National Police Agency said the suspect was brought home early Wednesday through Incheon International Airport from Phnom Penh, 58 days after his arrest in the Southeast Asian country.
The 27-year-old was charged with killing a South Korean traveler in his 30s and abandoning his body in Pattaya in early May in collusion with two other Koreans.
The suspect allegedly fled to Cambodia after committing the crime, before he was arrested in Phnom Penh five days later with cooperation from South Korean police stationed in the country and the local police.
Since the arrest, police have cooperated with Thai and Cambodian authorities to push for a speedy extradition of the suspect, including sending the investigative team in charge of the case to Thailand for a joint conference with local police last month.
They also held negot
iations with Cambodia’s interior ministry and police authorities.
As a result, Cambodian authorities made the decision to have the suspect deported, instead of keeping to the initial plan to proceed with the extradition process, which tends to be more complicated and takes longer.
The National Police Agency will have the Gyeongnam Provincial Police Agency focus on interrogating the suspect, while continuing the manhunt for the last suspect on the run through international cooperation.
Meanwhile, a trial is under way for an accomplice in the case who was apprehended in the southern city of Jeongeup, 217 kilometers south of Seoul, in May.
Source: Yonhap News Agency