Royal Thai Police Deputy Commissioner Pol Lt Gen Ruangsak Jarit-ek gives details of the theft of human body parts from two Siriraj Hospital museums at a press conference yesterday. SOMCHAI POOMLARD
By Terry Fredrickson
Siriraj Hospital confirmed yesterday the five items of preserved human organs that two Americans attempted to mail to the US were stolen from the hospital’s two museums. The pair have now left the country, police say.
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Cops doubt staff role in organ theft
POST REPORTERS
Police doubt if staff members from the forensic medicine and anatomy museums at Sriraj Hospital were involved in an attempt to smuggle human organs to the US.
Two American videographers, Ryan Edward McPherson, 31, and Daniel Tanner, 33, who had been detained for attempting to smuggle the human body parts back to Las Vegas, Nevada, said they bought the items from a black marketeer near the Memorial Bridge.
Siriraj Hospital confirmed yesterday the five items of preserved human organs were stolen from the hospital’s two museums.
The suspects were caught on security camera footage at the registration counters of both museums on Thursday, said Dr Udom Kachintorn, faculty of medicine dean at Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University.
But the footage did not show the suspects stealing any exhibits, he added.
Dr Udom said one piece was a preserved human heart which was taken from the forensic medicine museum and the rest were taken from Siriraj’s anatomy museum. The two museums are 40m apart.
The theft has prompted Siriraj to consider improving security measures at all of its museums, said the doctor.
The hospital has already filed a complaint with the police seeking a probe into the case to find out if the suspects had inside help in stealing the parts from the museums.
Police are looking into the intended destinations of the parcels to establish a link and have contacted the FBI, said an informed source.
They are looking for the real motive of the theft, be it for commercial gain, or simply a superstitious belief, said the source.
The suspects had earlier been detained for allegedly attempting to ship home five stolen human parts preserved in formaldehyde, said Pol Lt Gen Sriwara Rangsiph-ramnakul, chief of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, yesterday.
Both were charged with falsely declaring a preserved baby’s foot, a human heart and sheets of skin as toys, he said.
The five human parts packed in different acrylic boxes were detected at a DHL branch on Saturday night.
The suspects were released after being charged with violating a customs law because a criminal background check came back clean, said Pol Maj Gen Chawalit Prasopsil, chief of the MPB’s Division 5.
Visitor records indicate Mr McPherson and Mr Tanner entered Thailand on Thursday.
The two left Thailand on Sunday morning for Cambodia. If police find more evidence to help prove their guilt on more criminal charges regarding the stolen body parts, the police will try to locate them and bring them back to face more charges in Thailand, Pol Maj Gen Chawalit said.
Mr McPherson and Mr Tanner became notorious for preying on homeless men a decade ago to create infamously violent videos called “Bumfights”, which they sold over the internet, according to a local English-language news website.
The Bumfights featured homeless men in San Diego, California, who were paid a few dollars to beat each other up on camera.
Mr McPherson was arrested in 2002 for illegally paying people to fight, according to a local news website. In 2006 the films’ four makers settled the case by agreeing not to make or sell any more Bumfights videos.
Vocabulary
acrylic: a substance made by a chemical process, used for making many different things, for example fibres for cloth and paint - อะคริลิก
allegedly: claimed to have done something wrong, but not yet proven - ที่กล่าวหา
anatomy: the scientific study of the structure of human or animal bodies - กายวิภาคศาสตร์
arrest: (of the police) to take someone to a police station because they are believed to have committed a crime - จับกุม
background: information about some person or subject that helps you better understand them and understand current events - ประวัติ
black market: an illegal form of trade in which foreign money, or goods that are difficult to obtain, are bought and sold - ตลาดมืด
branch: an office or shop representing a large company or organisation in a particular area - สาขา
charge: to accuse someone officially of committing a crime - ตั้งข้อกล่าวหา
commercial: for business purposes - เกี่ยวกับการค้า
commissioner: the head of a particular police force in some countries - ผู้ตรวจการณ์
consider: to give careful thought to something before making a decision - พิจารณา
cop: (informal) a police officer - ตำรวจ (คำสแลง)
counter: a long flat surface over which goods are sold or business is done in a shop/store, bank, etc - เคาน์เตอร์, โต๊ะขนาดยาว
criminal: relating to illegal acts - เกี่ยวกับอาชญากรรม
customs: the checking and collecting of taxes on goods leaving or entering the country, carried out by the customs department - งานที่เกี่ยวข้องกับภาษีศุลกากร
dean: a senior official at a college or university, often the head of a faculty or department - คณบดี
decade: a period of ten years - ทศวรรษ
declare: to tell customs officers (= at the border of a country) the kind of goods you are carrying - แจ้ง, เปิดเผย
deputy: a person whose rank is immediately below that of the leader of an organisation - รอง
destination: the place where someone or something is going - จุดหมายปลายทาง
details: small facts or pieces of information relating to a situation - รายละเอียด
detained: kept in a place and not allowed to leave - กักตัว ควบคุมตัวหรือฝากขัง
detect: to notice, to discover or find out - พบได้, สังเกต
doubt: to think that something is probably not true, that it probably won't happen or that it probably does not exist - สงสัย
establish: to discover, prove, or decide that something is true - พิสูจน์, แสดงให้เห็น
evidence: facts statements or objects that help to prove whether or not someone has committed a crime - หลักฐาน
exhibit: an object or a work of art put in a public place, for example a museum, so that people can see it - ของที่แสดง
faculty: a group of departments in a college or university which specialise in a particular subject or group of subjects - คณะ
FBI: (noun) Federal Bureau of Investigation; the police department in the US that is controlled by the national government and that is responsible for dealing with crimes that affect more than one state - สำนักงานสอบสวนกลางแห่งสหรัฐอเมริกา
file a complaint: to make an official statement that someone has done something wrong - ยื่นคำร้อง
forensic medicine: the use of scientific methods to find out about how someone died, etc. - นิติเวชศาสตร์
formaldehyde: a gas with no colour and a strong smell, used mixed with water for preserving dead things in a laboratory ก๊าซไร้สีกลิ่นแรงใช้ทำยาฆ่าเชื้อและยากันเน่า - a gas with no colour and a strong smell, used mixed with water for preserving dead things in a laboratory ก๊าซไร้สีกลิ่นแรงใช้ทำยาฆ่าเชื้อและยากันเน่า
gain: a benefit, or an advantage - ผลประโยชน์
illegally: in a way that is against the law - อย่างผิดกฎหมาย
improve: to make better - ทำให้ดีขึ้น
indicate: to show that something is true, exists or will happen - แสดง, ทำให้รู้
infamously: well known for something bad - เสียชื่อ, น่าอับอาย, น่าขายหน้
informed source: a person or place thought to have good information - แหล่งข่าวที่เชื่อถือได้
intended: planned; wanted to happen - ที่ได้วางแผนไว้ ที่ตั้งใจให้เกิดขึ้น
involved: taking part or having a role in something - เกี่ยวข้อง
link: a connection - ความเชื่อมโยงกัน
local: in or related to the area that you live, or to the particular area that you are talking about - ท้องถิ่น
locate: to find where something is - หาทำเล,หาที่ตั้ง
measure: an action taken to solve a particular problem - มาตรการ
metropolitan police: the police in responsible for a city - ตำรวจนครบาล
motive: a reason for doing something - แรงจูงใจ
museum: a building where objects of historical, scientific or artistic interest are kept - พิพิธภัณฑ์
notorious: famous for something bad - ซึ่งมีชื่อเสียงในทางไม่ดี
organ: a part of the body that has a particular purpose, such as the heart or the brain - อวัยวะ
parcel: a package with something in it, sent through the mail, bigger than a letter - ไปรษณียภัณฑ์
preserved: kept something as it is, especially in order to prevent it from decaying or being damaged or destroyed - ซึ่งปกป้องไว้
press conference: an official meeting where someone makes a formal statement about a particular issue or event to journalists and answers their questions about it - การแถลงข่าว
prey on: to hurt or deceive a group of people, especially people who are weak or can easily be hurt or deceived - หาเหยื่อ
probe: an investigation - การสอบสวน
prompted: caused - ก่อให้เกิด
registration: the process of recording names or information on an official list - การขึ้นทะเบียน, การลงทะเบียน
release: to allow someone to go free - ปล่อยตัว
role: the purpose or influence of someone or something in a particular situation; function or job - บทบาท
screengrab: a photo/picture taken from the screen of a computer -
security: protection; systems providing for safety from attack, harm, or damage - ระบบรักษาความปลอดภัย
security camera footage: video from a camera that is put in a place to constantly record what happens there - ภาพหรือหนังในเทปวิดีโอจากกล้องวงจรปิดเพื่อรักษาการความปลอดภัย
settled: (of a disagreement) ended; solved - ทำข้อตกลง
smuggle: to take things or people to or from a place secretly and often illegally - ลักลอบนำเข้า
staff: all the workers employed by a person or organisation considered as a group - คณะผู้ทำงาน, คนงาน
superstitious: believing in the power of magic or luck - เชื่อโชคลาง
suspect: a person who is thought to have committed a crime - ผู้ต้องสงสัย
theft: (the act of) dishonestly taking something which belongs to someone else and keeping it - การลักขโมย
videographer: a person whose job it to make videos -
violate: to do something that is against a law, rule or agreement - ฝ่าฝืน, ละเมิด
violent: involving the use of physical force, with the intention of causing damage to property or injury or death to people - รุนแรง
