If you’ve been on a backpacking trip to Thailand, you’ll be fully aware of all of those stringy bracelets people peddle to you on the beach. Well now, following the murders of two British tourists to one of the country’s previously most idyllic islands, Koh Tao, it’s been suggested that people get electronic versions of these wristbands. You know, to keep them safe.
Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul, the tourism minister, suggested: ‘When tourists check in to a hotel they will be given a wristband with a serial number that matches their ID and shows the contact details of the resort they are staying in, so that if they're out partying late and, for example, get drunk or lost, they can be easily assisted.’
She also added that there might be a possibility for the wristbands to one day contain an ‘electronic tracking device.’
However, we can’t see the types looking to find themselves in Thailand being too keen on wearing a state-authorised wristband at all times, especially if they’re going to get involved in the country’s watersports or perhaps even get up to things (e.g. getting nailed at psy-trance raves) that they want to do unmonitored.
Wattanavrangkul, who is likely trying to think of a solution to a clear problem following the brutal beach murders, recognised this: ‘Most people welcome the idea but some hotels are concerned that tourists may not want to wear the wristbands.’
Plus, in the case of the deaths of David Miller and Hannah Witheridge, who were found dead on a beach with wounds inflicted on their skulls, believed to be made with a garden hoe which was found nearby and covered in blood, we don’t think tagging their wrists, electronic or not, would have put their murderer(s) off.
According to MailOnline, detectives are close to capturing the three men who they believed killed the pair: ‘Two of the suspects raped and killed Witheridge while another one witnessed the murder,’ said Pol Let Gen Panya Mamen, the commissioner of Provincial Police Region 8.
‘We're confident we have a very high chance of finding the suspects. I'm not worried [about high public expectations] because I know how much the probe has been progressing. We just have to follow forensic results.'
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Picture: Getty, Rex
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.