Thai police officers have found the dismembered body of 62-year-old Hans-Peter Mack, local police chief Tawee Kudthalaeng said on Tuesday. Authorities made the discovery at 11 p.m local time (1600 UTC) the previous day

The German real estate broker,  a resident of Thailand for several years, had been missing for a week. Police had pieced together security camera footage in the hope of finding him alive.

Instead, they found the mutilated corpse inside a chest freezer at a house in the upscale settlement of Nong Prue.

What are media reporting about the case?

Police have arrested a woman believed to have met Mack immediately before his disappearance, German mass-circulation newspaper Bild cited a source as saying.

The meeting was in connection with the lucrative sale of two properties, a villa and a boxing hall, worth about 700 million baht (some €18.2 million or $20 million).

Mack's 24-year-old spouse received two text messages from him during the meeting but could not contact him again afterward.

A Thai couple told police that a German woman had hired them to deliver the freezer to the house where it was found, the English-language Bangkok Post newspaper reported.

Police used camera footage to identify a German man, a close friend of the German woman, driving a pickup truck that transported the freezer. Officials were said to be investigating several suspects, including German and Thai nationals.

Investigators said a large amount of money was found to be missing from the businessman's bank account, adding that they thought the crime was linked to extortion. It is believed he may have been tortured before he was killed.

Mack, formerly a boss of Munich corporate communications firm Media AG, had last been seen driving his Mercedes sedan in the coastal city of Pattaya where he lived with his Thai wife.

A missing person announcement from his family offered a 3 million baht (about $86,000 or €78,000) reward for information leading to his return, but there had been no response.

The vehicle was found on Sunday in the parking lot of a condominium in Nong Prue, the Associated Press news agency said.

Investigators discovered traces of what appeared to be a cleaning solvent in the vehicle, including on the seats, dashboard, and steering wheel — apparently used in an attempt to destroy evidence.

The German Foreign Ministry said it was aware of the case and that its officials were in touch with the individual's relatives and Thai authorities. 

Edited by: Rob Turner