Workers at a recycling plant in Thailand got a nasty shock when they opened a shipment of cardboard from the US and found a pair of human legs inside.
Thai police are now in contact with US authorities amid fears the owner may have been murdered before being hidden in the container and crated on the other side of the Pacific Ocean.
“It is possible that the person was the victim of a murder,” said Lt. Col. Dechanut Thayasirichuti of the Sriracha police.
'However, that has not happened in our country.'
The grisly shipment was delivered Tuesday to a factory just outside Sriracha, a town about 100 miles south of the capital Bangkok.
The legs were still wearing black socks and one was wearing a brown shoe with a pink lace when they were discovered on Tuesday among layers of cardboard from the US.
Police were called and officers sent into the container found a second limb extending to the pelvis, compressed into a cardboard cube and also wearing a black sock.
As a worker began unloading the layers of compressed cardboard, he noticed a shin sticking out of a brown sneakers with pink laces.
The severely decomposed limb was still wearing a black sock and appeared to have been severed at the knee.
“I thought the bones were white posts,” the operator told local media.
'But then I saw the knees and the sneakers. I was shocked when I realized they belonged to a human.”
Police were called and officers sent into the container found a second limb extending to the pelvis, compressed into a cardboard cube and also wearing a black sock.
“We do not believe the remains are those of a local Thai person,” Thayasirichuti said.
“The body was already decomposed, so we believe it had been in the container for a long time before arriving in Thailand.
The remains were recovered from the waste and sent to the Forensic Science Institute of Bangkok Police Hospital
“We suspect the person was a foreigner and the remains traveled here.
“The shipping company will cooperate with the foreign police.”
The remains were recovered from the waste and sent to the Forensic Science Institute of Bangkok Police Hospital for analysis.
Thai authorities have not released the name of the recycling company or the company that shipped the cargo on its 8,000-mile journey from the US.
But the area is well known to American tourists who visit the popular resort of Pattaya, just ten miles to the south, and it is home to the Unithai Shipyard, which serves as the main repair facility for U.S. Navy ships in the area.
Readers were quick to comment on the story when it gained attention in the Thai media, lamenting the secrecy surrounding the case.
'Name the name of the factory. Be careful not to get sued. You know it. Better to remain silent,” wrote one.
“In the past, some people were lucky enough to get money and gold,” wrote recycling worker Pramonthat Maithong.
“This time they get human legs.”
Dailymail.com has contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for more details.