This (article below) was published nearly a month ago, but there doen't seem to have been any progress on the case since then. Updates anyone ?

Man wanted for murder of Norwegian still free in Thailand – Former Minister wants a boycott
April 29, 2021 - by Mette Larsen

The man who is accused of killing Norwegian Nerid Høiness in Laos last year is according to reports still free in Thailand and former Norwegian Minister of Justice Per-Willy Amundsen wants a Norwegian boycott of the holiday country, local media Dagbladet reports.

According to a recent article published in Dagbladet, the media reports that 30-year-old Nerid Høiness and her 38-year-old Japanese boyfriend Hiroyuki Ogu last year in January went on a motorcycle trip from the holiday island of Koh Phangan in Thailand to Vang Vieng in Laos where Nerid Høiness was reportedly abused and beaten to death.

Dagbladet states that several witnesses have explained to the police in Laos that they had heard screams from the room the couple rented at the hotel for several days. On January 9, several people reported that they saw Hiroyuki Ogu carrying Nerid’s lifeless body out of the hotel, where he then strapped her body onto the motorcycle. Two weeks later, the body of Nerid Høiness was found dumped in the jungle in Laos. Laos police started their investigation and her boyfriend Hiroyuki Ogu was accused of the murder. Dagbladet states however that 467 days after the murder, Hiroyuki Ogu is still not caught.

According to Dagbladet, Lawyer Sidsel Katralen, who is an assistant lawyer for Nerid’s family, confirms that little has happened.

“Japanese Hiroyuki Ogu is internationally wanted via Interpol for the murder of Nerid. Beyond that, neither the police nor other authorities in Laos, Thailand, or Norway have done much to get him arrested,” says Sidsel Katralen.

Dagbladet writes that Sidsel Katralen and the former UN police chief Øyvind Olsen have located Hiroyuki Ogu several times. “We have given the information both to the Norwegian authorities and to the police both in Bangkok and Koh Phangan. Unfortunately, he is still not caught, Sidsel Katralen says.

Now the former Minister of Justice and current member of the Storting’s Justice Committee Per-Willy Amundsen (Frp) has had enough. To Dagbladet, he says, “It is a complete scandal that the man who abused and killed Nerid Høiness has not been arrested and brought to justice”.

Per-Willy Amundsen says that it is incomprehensible that he has not been caught after the police in Laos put out an arrest warrant and the police in Thailand have been made aware of his whereabouts several times.

The former Minister of Justice is now asking the Norwegian government to intervene and pressure the authorities in Thailand.

“If he is not arrested, the Norwegian government should warn Norwegian citizens to travel to Thailand. In Norway’s official travel council, there should be a warning against traveling to a country like Thailand, where the man who killed Nerid Høiness still goes free,” Per-Willy Amundsen says to Dagbladet. The former Minister of Justice believes the authorities in Thailand will react quickly if Norwegians stop traveling to Thailand.

Per-Willy Amundsen is also criticizing his successor as Minister of Justice, Monica Mæland, and the Ministry of Foerign Affairs for not taking the matter up with the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Thailand.

“I wish the Foreign Minister was more concerned with Norwegian citizens abroad than sitting on the UN Security Council,” says Per-Willy Amundsen.

According to Dagbladet, local police in Vang Vieng, Lao General Department of Police, and the police in Thailand have not answered Dagbladet’s questions about the case.
https://scandasia.com/man-wanted-for-mu ... a-boycott/

There are suggestions here that a gang of drug smugglers may have been involved. Did the dead woman find out about her Japanese lover and threaten to denounce him ?

Calls for murdered Norwegian woman’s Japanese killer to be brought to justice if found in Thailand

May 1, 2021 at 11:00 pm
by James Morris and Son Nguyen

38-year-old Japanese national Hiroyuki Ogu is the subject of an Interpol Red Notice and is being sought by police in Laos in relation to a murder enquiry linked to the death of his Norwegian girlfriend in January 2020. Efforts to locate the man by his family involving a former UN police chief in Norway have suggested he has been living in Thailand either in Ko Phangan where the couple first met or in Bangkok. However, some recent reports suggest the killer may have absconded to Cambodia.

A former Norwegian Justice Minister and member of the Justice Committee in the Norwegian parliament is calling for a boycott of Thailand by Norwegian travellers after a 30-year-old Norwegian woman who fell in love with a Japanese man in Ko Phangan, was murdered by him in Laos and has been reported to have been located in Thailand on several occasions. It has also been revealed that the murdered young woman is a daughter of a former Norwegian ambassador who may have become involved with a cross border drug smuggling gang on the paradise island in Surat Thani province.
https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news- ... se-killer/

Update from December, 2021: The Japanese man, Hiroyuki “Hiro” Ogu, wanted for the murder of a Norwegian tourist, Nerid Høiness, in Laos was finally arrested.



https://scandasia.com/japanese-man-want ... -arrested/

Dagbladet wrote:On January 9, 2020, several people reported that they saw Hiroyuki Ogu carrying Nerid’s lifeless body out of the hotel, where he then strapped her body onto the motorcycle. Two weeks later, the body of Nerid Høiness was found in the jungle in Laos. Laos police started their investigation

Each time I read this, I wonder why the strapping her body to the bike didn’t trigger a response?
Great that they caught him, but I suspect an all too familiar region wide police attitude may also be a factor.