A full autopsy is expected in the next day but police say cyanide residue was found on drinking cups.
Thai police suspect that cyanide poisoning caused the death of six foreigners whose bodies were found in an upmarket Bangkok hotel.
The police said on Wednesday that traces of the poison were found in the room at the Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel in which the bodies were discovered the previous day.
Authorities appeared eager to stress that the crime is of a “private” nature, and that there is no security threat to Thailand’s key tourist sector. It is suspected that one of the six deceased laced tea with the deadly chemical, in connection with a dispute over money.
“We found cyanide in the teacups, all six cups we found cyanide,” Trirong Phiwpan, commander of the Thai police forensic division, told a news conference. “After staff brought tea cups and two hot water bottles, milk and teapots … one of the six introduced cyanide.”
The dead have been identified as two United States citizens with Vietnamese roots and four Vietnamese nationals. The bodies of the three males and three females were found late on Tuesday.
Mass suicide is considered unlikely, Phiwpan added, as some of the dead had made arrangements for guides and drivers for later in their Thai trip.
It is also noted that the bodies were not grouped in the same place. Some were in the bedroom, some in the living room, suggesting they did not knowingly consume poison and wait for their death together.
“We are convinced that one of the six people found dead committed this crime,” said Noppasil Poonsawas, a deputy commander of the Bangkok police.
The results of an autopsy were expected within the next day, the police said at the news conference.
Vietnam’s government said its embassy in Bangkok was coordinating closely with Thai authorities. The US State Department said it was monitoring the situation but noted that local authorities were responsible for the investigation.
Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin urged a swift probe into the deaths in a bid to limit the impact on his country’s travel sector.
When asked if the news would affect a conference with the Russian energy minister at the hotel on Wednesday, Srettha said it was unlikely.
“This wasn’t an act of terrorism or a breach in security, everything is fine.”
Noppasin stressed that the case appeared to be personal and would not affect the safety of tourists.
A husband and wife among the dead had invested money with two of the other victims, suggesting that money could be a motive, said the deputy police chief, citing information obtained from relatives of the victims.
The investment was meant to build a hospital in Japan and the group might have been meeting to settle the matter, he added.
However, the gruesome and mysterious deaths, initially reported by some Thai media as a shooting, could trigger a setback for a country that is relying heavily on its tourism sector to revive an economy that has struggled since the pandemic.
Thailand is expecting 35 million foreign arrivals this year, up from 28 million last year who spent 1.2 trillion baht ($33.71bn).
