Police seek two ex-convicts over missing Russian siblings

Chon Buri police are looking for two ex-convicts for questioning in connection with the mysterious disappearance of two Russian siblings as CCTV footage confirms the suspicion of the siblings that they were being pursued by unidentified men on Sunday morning, the day they went missing.

Police identified the two former convicts, who were recently released from prison, only as ‘Thana’ and ‘Thong’. Their relatives are reported to have told the police that Thana left, claiming he was heading to Chanthaburi, on Monday night to visit his sick son, adding that he was convicted on charges of attempted murder, illegal use of firearms and depriving a minor of her parents.

The second suspect, Thong, was identified by witnesses as being present in an old cemetery, where the dismantled motorcycle, rented by the two Russian siblings, was found.

Police and local officials in Bang Lamung district of Chon Buri, as well as volunteers from an emergency response organisation in Pattaya, combed the 1,160-hectare cemetery in Huai Yai sub-district today, to look for clues which may lead them to the discovery of the two missing siblings, 22-year-old Diana Nazimova and 17-year-old Roman.

Some villagers in the neighborhood of the old cemetery claimed that they heard several gunshots on the night before the dismantled motorcycle was found.

The two siblings left their rented home before dawn on Sunday on a rented motorcycle. One of them texted their parents to say that they suspected they were being followed.

CCTV footage obtained by the police shows the Russian siblings riding a motorcycle towards the motorway and closely followed by another motorcycle with two men riding on board.

Then the two motorcycles stopped at a U-turn under a flyover and the four of them were seen engaged in a conversation. After that encounter, the two men continued tailing the two siblings until the footage ended.