When Thai authorities reached the murder scene, they found 12 dead sailors – one on the boat, and 11 by a nearby port – some of whom had apparently been blindfolded, gagged with duct tape and shot in the head at close range. One had her neck broken. Another was missing. Nearly one million methamphetamine pills were found on board.
Chinese web users reacted to the news with horror and Chinese authorities sent gunboats down the Mekong, causing some to question China's long-standing foreign policy of non-interference in other countries' domestic affairs. Shipping on the river briefly came to a halt.
Naw Kahm soon emerged as a prime suspect. China's official media portrayed the manhunt to find him – a cross-border effort involving 200 people – as similar to the US search for Osama bin Laden. The state-run Global Times reported last month that China's drug enforcement authorities considered using an unprecedented drone strike to bomb him out of his mountain hideaway in north-eastern Burma. He was captured in Laos last spring and promptly extradited.