DNA sample collection continued for murder of two Britons

SURAT THANI, THAILAND, September 29 (TNA) - Thai authorities have continued to collect samples for DNA tests to find suspects in the murder of two Britons on Koh Tao, a small island in the Gulf of Thailand off Surat Thani Province in the Thai South on September 15. As the evidence collection has been proceeded, authorities on Monday detained a migrant worker whose profile shows his violence orientation for a serious interrogation. The migrant worker reportedly used his cell phone to take photographs of himself cutting his own chest with a knife. The authorities also collected samples from 22 more people for DNA tests. Meanwhile, Tourism and Sports Minister Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul told journalists that she visited Koh Tao last weekend and learned that international tourists appear to remain confident in Thailand's security measures despite the recent murder case. Kobkarn said, however, that the state-run Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) will pay for the installation of more surveillance cameras, deploy more local volunteers to work with tourist police, distribute wristbands holding tourists' information to facilitate volunteers' tourist assistance and hand out handbooks for tours on Koh Tao. The minister noted that she plans to develop Koh Tao into a tourist safety model to set an example for other Thai resort islands. (TNA)