Thai police believe that an Australian murder suspect is in Cambodia after fleeing arrest in Thailand, according to Australian and Thai media reports, although Cambodian authorities contacted on Thursday said they had no knowledge of the fugitive.
According to ABC News online, underworld figure Antonio Bagnato, 26, is wanted in connection to the murder this week of his business partner and former Hells Angel gang member Wayne Rodney Schneider, with whom he owned a fitness center in Australia.
“Antonio Bagnato has been named by Thai police as the leader of a five-man team that beat Wayne Rodney Schneider unconscious and kidnapped him from his home in Pattaya…in the early hours of Monday morning,” the ABC report said.
It added that the superintendent of police in Pattaya province, Sukthat Pumpanmuang, believed Mr. Bagnato fled to Cambodia.
According to the Bangkok Post, Wayne Rodney Schneider’s body was discovered on Wednesday.
Cambodian police officials, however, said they had no knowledge of the case on Thursday.
Lim Sokha Raksmey, the director of Cambodia’s Interpol office, said he had not been contacted by Thai police.
