Stolen body parts: Police seek international help
(Updated Wed.) Police have sought help from Interpol and the FBI to capture two Americans accused of stealing human organs from Siriraj Hospital's medical museums.
(Updated Wed.) Police have sought help from Interpol and the FBI to capture two Americans accused of stealing human organs from Siriraj Hospital's medical museums.
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Ryan Edward McPherson (left), 31, and Daniel Jamon Tanner, 33, are long-time friends who have been involved in several projects of questionable taste, including the notorious Bumfight videos in which homeless people were paid tiny amounts of money to beat each other.
Wednesday morning update
Interpol hunts 'body thieves'
Post reporters and AP
Police have sought help from Interpol to capture two Americans accused of stealing human organs from Siriraj Hospital's medical museums.
The Bangkok South Criminal Court on Tuesday issued arrest warrants for Ryan (aka Ryen) Edward McPherson, 31, and Daniel Jamon Tanner, 33, on charges of theft and false declarations in violation of the Customs Act after police presented evidence suggesting they stole preserved human remains from the museum and attempted to ship the organs to the United States.
National police deputy chief Pol Gen Ruangsak Jarit-ek said authorities are coordinating with Interpol to detain them after they reportedly fled to Cambodia on Sunday morning through Aranyaprathet district in Sa Kaeo province.
In Washington, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was looking into the case to see whether any US laws were broken by the two American tourists who police say tried to ship the preserved human parts from Bangkok to Las Vegas.
FBI spokeswoman Bridget Pappas confirmed the investigation is focussed on Mr McPherson and Mr Tanner, who were questioned after police were alerted to three packages labeled "toys".
Pol Maj Gen Sombat Milintachinda, commander of investigations at the Metropolitan Police Bureau, said warrants were distributed to every border checkpoint in Thailand and neighbouring countries.
Police are seeking security footage from Siriraj Hospital, which houses preserved medical oddities in two museums.
Tuesday
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
11:00
Post Today reports that the Bangkok Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for the two Americans on charges of stealing property from a government agency and making a false customs declaration.
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.
A screengrab from the first "Bumfights" video.
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.
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