German businessman who was allegedly running a child sex ring in Thailand was discovered dead in a freezer after being chainsaw-mutilated.
Police in Pattaya, eastern Thailand, made the grisly discovery of Hans Peter Walter Mack, 62,’s body on Monday evening after a hurried search of a housing development.
The real estate broker’s head, torso and limbs were cut and left in plastic bags in a chest freezer, according to police, who also discovered a chainsaw, ropes and a vacuum sealer nearby.
Mr Mack, 62, was arrested in 2019 for allegedly running an underage trafficking ring which provided children to foreign men for sex, although he managed to avoid prison for the charges and later started a business and property empire.
He had since been living in Pattaya with his wife Piraya Boonmak, 24, who he started a relationship with five years ago.
Mack went missing on July 4 following a meeting with a German realtor to discuss the sale of a pool villa and a boxing stadium, prompting a frantic search in which his family appeared to offer a three million Baht reward (£66,000) for information on his whereabouts.
The gruesome discovery was eventually made at around 11pm on Monday night, when police found the dismembered corpse concealed in a freezer in the Chokchai Garden Home 1 Village- around 400 metres away from where his grey Mercedes-Benz coupe was found in a car park several days earlier
Officers said the German’s head, torso, and limbs had been severed and stuffed in plastic bags inside the 1.5m-long freezer which was plugged inside the house.
The discovery comes following a tip from a Thai couple, who claimed they had been hired to transport the freezer to the pool villa house.
Detectives reviewed CCTV footage and identified a pick-up truck driven by a foreigner transporting the appliance secured with plastic sheets and black tape.
It had driven some 90 miles across Chonburi province before dropping off the freezer at the home where it was found.
Police said the interior of Mr Mack’s car had also been wiped with cleaning solvent ‘to destroy evidence’ and have arrested a person known as Petra G, 54, who was the last person Mack is known to have met in Thailand, Bild reported.
The corpse has been taken to the Institute of Forensic Medicine, Police General Hospital for a post-mortem examination, while the freezer is being kept at the Nong Prue Police Station.
Investigators believe there was extortion involved, as Hans was found to have wired two million THB (£44,567) from his bank account before his death.
Deputy National Police Chief Police General Surachate Hakparn said: ‘The case concerns assets. The offender seemed to know that Mr Mack had assets. Detectives must find out if the perpetrator knew Mr Mack personally.’
Police are yet to comment on the German’s shady background.
In February 2018, Hans was arrested in Pattaya along with a Thai woman Amornrat Kateuy on charges of allegedly prostituting girls under the age of 18.
The ex-pat was allegedly put under surveillance by police and seen with Amornrat taking a 17-year-old girl to a house.
Officers raided the home where they allegedly found the German sitting with the teenager while a shirtless foreigner emerged from a bedroom where the 15-year-old was wrapped only in a towel.
The girl told police that the foreigner had paid for sexual services from her and that Amornrat and Hans had taken her there to perform the service.
Police investigated Hans and Amornrat for human trafficking and procuring a sex service provided by an underage girl. The alleged foreign child sex offender was charged with sexual activities with a minor.
It is not known how Hans avoided further police action and what came of the case.