Hunt underway for murderer of taxi driver in Ayutthaya

Police have launched a manhunt for the murderer of a taxi driver whose body and car were found on an empty plot of land, which used to be the dumping ground for distillery effluent, in Ayutthaya province last evening.

Chang Yai district police were dispatched to the scene of the murder, about a kilometre from the Bang Pa in-Bang Bua Thong highway, after they received a report from villagers that they had found an abandoned taxi and the body of a man, believed to be the taxi driver, in the bushes on wasteland.

Upon arrival at the scene, police found the abandoned taxi with its doors open and a shoe was found near the accelerator pedal, with the other on the ground near the car. Blood stains were found on the driver and passenger seats.

The driver’s body was found lying face down on the ground next to the car.

Police said that a serious wound was found on the forehead of the victim, identified only as ‘Prayad’, aged 65. The car still bears a taxi plate, but has not been registered as a public transport vehicle.

Police initially think that the taxi driver might have been robbed and murdered when he resisted.