A Thai woman reported missing for seven days was found safe on a coach bus travelling to Kanchanaburi after she left a relative’s home with her boyfriend on August 28.
The woman, identified as 33 year old Wichuda, also known as Lukpla, left her relative’s house in Lat Ya subdistrict, Mueang district, Kanchanaburi, at around 10am on August 28 on a pickup truck of her boyfriend, Nut. Her family lost contact with her after that day.
Family members and friends sent messages to Lukpla through LINE, which she read but did not answer. Her mother later contacted Nut, who denied meeting her despite CCTV footage reportedly showing the pair together before he blocked the mother’s contact.
The family then reported her missing to police and appeared on a television programme to ask the public for help finding her.
According to the Hone Krasae news programme last week, Nut’s pickup truck was later found abandoned in Chiang Mai province. Neither Nut nor Lukpla was found near the vehicle.
Lukpla’s mother expressed concern about her daughter’s safety and cried throughout her interview on the programme.
Unconfirmed information also circulated that Nut and his friends had left Thailand for a neighbouring country to escape a conflict involving a drug trafficking gang. The report stated that Lukpla had not travelled with them.
A continued search led police to find Lukpla on a coach bus travelling towards Kanchanaburi at around 9pm on September 4. Police questioned her about her disappearance and Nut’s whereabouts.
According to Channel 7, Lukpla told police that she had travelled to Chiang Mai with Nut voluntarily. She said she was not forced or assaulted and lost contact with her family because there was no mobile phone signal.
Police initially allowed her to continue her journey home. When the coach arrived in Kanchanaburi, local police officers took her for further questioning. Officers said she appeared cheerful and had no visible marks of mistreatment.
During the second questioning, Lukpla said she and Nut had stayed at a resort near the Chiang Mai border area. She said Nut told her to remain in their room while he went out to meet friends and run errands.
Lukpla said the pair later argued because she wanted to return home, but Nut would not allow her to leave. She said she later saw news reports about her mother and son searching for her and decided to leave the resort and return home.
Police reportedly expressed scepticism about parts of Lukpla’s account and said they would conduct further questioning and investigate the circumstances of her disappearance. Officers will also examine what Nut had been doing in the Chiang Mai border area.
As of publication, there had been no public statement about Nut’s whereabouts or the purpose of his trip to Chiang Mai.
The story Police question account of Kanchanaburi woman after seven-day disappearance as seen on Thaiger News.
