BANGKOK, Thailand (NV) – Bangkok Police announced the test results of the white substance in the suitcase of Ms. Sherine Chong, a Vietnamese American, was indeed cyanide.
This is the next development in the case of six Vietnamese people, including two Vietnamese Americans, who were poisoned to death at the Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand.
In this case, Ms. Sherine Chong was targeted as the number one suspect, because she was alone in room 502 when she received food and drinks brought up by the hotel restaurant staff.
According to Thairath newspaper on July 20, cyanide was found in the blood of all six bodies, in tea cups and even in food left on the table at the scene that the victims had not yet eaten.
Bangkok Police have not yet made a final conclusion on the poisoning case, because this case has 60-70 pieces of evidence sent for examination, and examining each item takes 8-9 hours, not to mention DNA testing and fingerprints at the scene, so it takes a lot of time.
In another development, a reporter from Singapore’s CNA station on July 19 visited the home of the parents of Tran Dinh Phu, 37, alias Phu “Gia Gia,” a makeup artist, who was one of four people from Vietnam killed in the incident.
Ms. Le Thi Tuy, Mr. Phu’s mother, said that her son told her that Ms. Sherine Chong claimed to be the “wife of a Dubai billionaire.”
The Vietnamese American woman is described as a big spender, willing to hire Mr. Phu as her personal makeup artist and pay him $5,000 for each trip outside of Vietnam, such as to Bangkok, Hong Kong, etc.
Mr. Phu said the Vietnamese-American woman was a “very demanding” customer and once asked a feng shui master in Hong Kong whether he would be suitable to be her personal makeup artist.
Notably, Ms. Tuy said that her son cannot drink tea or coffee.
Looking at the photos of the crime scene in room 502, Ms. Tuy asserted that the open bottle of mineral water on the table belonged to Mr. Phu.
“Whenever my son travels, he often buys bottled water to drink instead of tea and coffee. It is horrible to think that someone put poison in his water bottle. What did my son do to deserve being poisoned to death?” said Ms. Tuy.
Regarding this case, domestic newspapers reported on July 20 that the bodies of the four victims are expected to be brought back to Vietnam on the same day or the next day because the necessary procedures have been completed.
Regarding the source of the cyanide in this case, a Bangkok Police official was quoted by Thairath newspaper as speculating that “the poison could have been purchased in Vietnam or Thailand, through many illegal channels.”
According to him, “buying cyanide in Vietnam seems easier” and it is not impossible that the suspect brought the poison in his luggage when entering Thailand after the flight from Saigon. (NHK) [qd]