Koh Phangan Police have discovered the body of a 57-year-old Danish foreigner who had committed suicide in a Buddhist ceremony several days earlier.

Pol Lt Saengrot Somrotrat was informed of the incident Saturday morning (8:00) after a French tourist had made a gruesome discovery on Koh Ma, a tiny island adjacent to the north-west of Koh Phang in Surat Thani province. “We sent out additional officers, emergency physicians and supporting rescue volunteers to examine the scene,” Koh Phangan Provincial Police Station Pol Lt Saengrot told reporters.

In a densely forested area, police discovered the already decomposing body of Jasper Larsson (name transcribed), 57, from Denmark. “We did not find any visible injuries,” Pol Lt Saengrot reported. However, inside his bag, officers seized not only his passport but also “a great range of pharmaceutical drugs” that “might be related to his death”, police said.

The bag, which was around 30 metres from the body, also contained a farewell letter in Danish written by Mr Larsson. “Please don’t make a big thing out of this,” it said, adding that since he was a Buddhist, he would like to be cremated at a temple on Koh Phangan. “Please also take care of my rented scooter.”

Next to the body of Mr Larsson, who was not wearing any shirt when he was found, police noticed a small Buddha portrait and used incense sticks used in Buddhist worshipping ceremonies. Emergency physicians estimated the Dane had been dead for four to five days.

A French friend told police officers that Mr Larsson would to go up the mountain on Koh Ma on a regular basis. After he had gone missing, he notified Mr Larsson’s family in Denmark who then asked for help from the Danish Embassy in Bangkok.

“One day after his disappearance, we received an inquiry by his embassy regarding the death of a Danish national on Koh Phangan,” superintendent Pol Lt Col Somsak Nurod said. When the embassy returned empty-handed, Mr Larsson’s friend searched for him on his own – and found the body Saturday morning.

Based on the evidence police have gathered so far, Pol Lt Saengrot assumes that Mr Larsson had been suffering from a variety of chronical illnesses and that this might have been a reason why he ended up committing suicide. “We think that he died from an overdose of his drugs,” Pol Lt Saengrot concluded.