Australian man arrested at Bangkok airport after teenager’s body found stuffed in suitcase

An Australian man detained at Thailand’s largest international airport has been accused of attempting to leave the country while suspected of murdering a 17-year-old girl and dumping her naked body in a suitcase at the side of a railway.

Thai media has reported that Simon Peter Carman, 46, was arrested at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok about 7pm on Friday local time (10pm on Friday AEST) after authorities connected him to the alleged murder of a teenage girl whose missing body was found in the coastal city of Pattaya hours earlier. Thai media outlets have reported that he denies the allegation.

Thai police discovered the body of the 17-year-old, identified in news reports as hailing from Kalasin province in the country’s north-east, inside a black suitcase abandoned next to railway tracks.

CCTV footage captured her final movements in the early hours of Thursday, according to the Siam Rath newspaper. The footage reportedly shows her entering an apartment complex near Jomtien Beach and holding hands with a foreign man.

The pair went up to the 15th floor, entered room number 20 and, about 15 hours later, a separate CCTV camera showed the foreign man dragging a black suitcase out of the complex and loading it onto the back of a motorbike.

According to reports, the man was later seen returning towards the complex without the suitcase on the back of the motorcycle.

Pattaya City Police Station said in a Facebook post that the girl’s friend filed a police report after noticing that she was missing. Police attended the apartment and conducted a thorough search, allegedly finding Carman’s passport, but he had left.

Police intercepted Carman at the airport attempting to purchase a flight back to Australia.

The dumped suitcase was later found about four kilometres away.

Carman was reported to have denied the murder allegation and any involvement in the girl’s disappearance. In Thailand, a murder conviction can carry the death penalty or imprisonment of 15 to 20 years.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it was providing consular assistance to an Australian detained in Thailand and was unable to provide further comment.

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