Thread: Search continues for 2-year-old boy missing for a week

The search continues today for a two-year-old Lahu tribe boy, who has been missing from home in a mountain village in Chiang Rai since last Saturday.


Officials from the Mirror Foundation say that there are four possible reasons for the disappearance of the boy, identified as Kriangkrai Sae Mee. He was either abducted, became a victim of domestic violence, had an accident or became involved in a conflict over his guardianship.


According to the Mae Yao sub-district police, Kriangkrai was last seen with his uncle, who tested positive for drugs on the day he was summoned by the police for questioning. Police said, however, that nothing was found to indicate that the uncle is be responsible for the disappearance.


Two police sniffer dogs were due to arrive in Ban Phasuk village in Mae Yao sub-district yesterday to join the search operation.


Yesterday, the boy’s mother and grandmother led Thai PBS reporters to the place at which the boy was last seen with his uncle. They said that the boy was playing with a football in the village before he went missing, adding that they do not have any conflict within the community.


Other villagers said that there were several outsiders attending a wedding ceremony last Saturday, when the boy went missing, adding, however, that the boy never normally strayed out of the village alone.


Villagers started looking for the boy last Saturday, before they reported him missing to the police, because the police station is about an hour’s walk from the village.


The place where the boy was last seen is a hill near a dry creek next to his parents’ house. A flowing stream is about 400 metres from the village.

Search continues for 2-year-old boy missing for a week | Thai PBS World : The latest Thai news in English, News Headlines, World News and News Broadcasts in both Thai and English. We bring Thailand to the world

More people drafted in, as search for missing 2-year-old expands

About 100 officials and volunteers have been mobilised, supported two police sniffer dogs, GPS tracking and blood trace detection devices, in the expanding search for the 2-year-old Lahu tribe boy, who has been missing for nearly 10 days from his home in the Muang district of Chiang Rai province.


Yesterday, the search effort focused on and around the hill-top house of the boy’s parents, in Mae Yao sub-district, and reeks in the village, as well as the spot where he was last seen. No clues to either the whereabouts of the boy or how he disappeared have been found so far.


Aekkaluck Loomchomkhae, chief of the Centre for Missing People of the Mirror Foundation, said that the areas which were searched yesterday had been searched before but, this time, it was more thorough.


Pol Col Sa-nga Srivichai, superintendent of Mae Yao sub-district police, said that scenes of crime officers from Chiang Rai joined in the search yesterday and brought with them blood detection equipment.


He said that police have not ruled out the possibility that the boy might have be abducted, become a victim of domestic violence, is the subject in a conflict over his guardianship or has had an accident.


The driver of a black pickup truck, which is reported to have left the village on March 23rd, when the boy was last seen, will be questioned, although the village head has assured the police that he is a villager, said the police officer.


The search today may shift to places through which the boy could have been smuggled out of the village in an abduction scenario, as well as a large cave close to the village.

More people drafted in, as search for missing 2-year-old expands | Thai PBS World : The latest Thai news in English, News Headlines, World News and News Broadcasts in both Thai and English. We bring Thailand to the world