E-Paper
Thailand recycling plant workers find human legs in shipment of cardboard from the US, police suspect murder
It is feared that the person whose legs were found may have been murdered and hidden in the container before it arrived in Thailand
Workers at a recycling plant in Thailand were horrified to find a pair of human legs inside a shipment of cardboard from the US. It is feared that the person whose legs were found may have been murdered and hidden in the container before it arrived in Thailand. Thai police are liaising with US authorities.
“It is possible the person was the victim of a murder,” said Lieutenant Colonel Dechanut Thayasirichuti of Sriracha police, according to to the Daily Mail. “It did not happen in our country though.”
On Tuesday, December 19, the cargo was delivered to a plant just outside Sriracha, which is a town about 100 miles south of Bangkok. A worker noticed a shin bone sticking out of a brown sports shoe with pink laces as he unloaded the layers of cardboard. The leg, which appeared to have been severed at the knee, still wore a black sock.
“I thought the bones were white poles,” the operator told local media. “But then I saw the knees and the trainers. I was shocked when I realized they were from a human.”
After police arrived, they discovered a second leg. Instead of being severed at the knee, this stretched up to the pelvis. This limb, too, wore a black sock.
“We do not believe that the remains are from a local Thai person,” Thayasirichuti said. “The body had already decomposed, so we believe it had been in the container for a long time before it arrived in Thailand.”
Thayasirichuti added, “We suspect that the person was a foreigner and the remains travelled here. The shipping company will co-ordinate with foreign police.” The remains have now been sent to the Forensic Science Institute at the Police Hospital in Bangkok for analysis. The name of the recycling firm that sent the cargo has not been revealed by Thai authorities.
