Oman police confirm missing Thai woman was murdered

A woman from Lampang, whose parents reported being unable to contact her for three months after she visited her Bangladeshi boyfriend in Oman, has been confirmed murdered in the Middle Eastern country.

The death of Athitiya (surname withheld), also known as Mind, was revealed by a Thai woman married to an Omani police officer.

The Thai woman, who uses the Facebook account Khadeeja MadamOman Alhashmi, posted on her Facebook page on Sunday night that a burned body found on a mountain had been confirmed as Mind, the missing Lampang woman.

Khadeeja stated that after learning Mind had been missing for three months following her visit to her Bangladeshi boyfriend in Salalah, Oman, she asked her husband to assist with the investigation and coordinate with the Salalah police.

According to Khadeeja, she and Mind’s friend, Or, gathered all available details and evidence related to Mind’s disappearance and provided them to her husband, who handed them over to the Salalah police on 20 February.

On 21 February, Or received a tip-off from a Bangladeshi national claiming that Mind’s boyfriend had assaulted and killed her before taking her body to be burned on a mountain.

Or recorded an audio clip of the Bangladeshi national's statement and sent it to Khadeeja, who then forwarded it to her husband. He, in turn, informed the Oman police officer in charge of the case. Upon investigation, police discovered a burned body at the location described.

Khadeeja confirmed that at 5:24 pm Oman time on Sunday, Omani police verified that DNA test results matched the burned body to Mind.

Last Thursday, Mind’s parents in Lampang said they had not been able to contact their daughter for three months and had sought assistance from Thai authorities to locate her and bring her home.