According to police sources, the suspects aged 35 and 38 were arrested at a room in a hotel on Sukhumvit 71 in Watthana district, Bangkok, reports the Bangkok Post.
Before the arrest, police found from CCTV footage that they had been in the company of Russian man who was reported missing and they had later ridden off on a motorcycle carrying a large bundle. The CCTV camera was in a housing estate about one kilometre from where the body was found.
The victim was identified as Mikhail Emelianov, 30, who had run a cannabis business in Jomtien area over the past two years. He lived at a condominium building in Pattaya.
A Thai woman, 53, told police a few days earlier that her dog found a blood-stained human body part.
More body parts in black plastic bags were then found buried in five pits about 50 centimetres deep near a pond not far from her house on Patthanakan 4 Road in Bang Lamung. The head had a severe wound consistent with a strike to the face with a hard object.
Police also found the victim’s clothes and bag buried in the same area. The victim was wearing the clothes when he was last seen.
Emelianov’s mother, 51, who had arrived from Russia, told police in Chonburi that her son had been missing since Jan 8. She said that earlier there was a message demanding the repayment of a $US120,000 (B3.8 million) debt. She saw the body and confirmed in tears it was her missing son.