PHUKET: PHUKET police will tomorrow seek the arrest of four people over the ''bodies in the jungle'' murders of a man and a woman.

The four have been named by an alleged survivor of the executions who played dead and now says the power of his amulets allowed him to live.

The man, whose wife and a neighbor were brutally slaughtered and thrown down a steep Phuket slope, has told police he too would have shared their fate, but he fooled the killers into thinking he was already dead.

At least one discrepancy has now emerged in the version of the executions being told by Sanit Choochern. And Phuket police tonight said Khun Sanit and his wife U-Rai, 50, had once been suspects in a Krabi drug investigation.

Khun Sanit remains in the care of Phuket police at the northern Tachatchai Police Station, where today he related his account in detail of events leading up to the murders.

According to Khun Sanit, he and the murdered man, Somporn Kamkerd, 30, ran neighboring palm plantations in Krabi.

On Monday evening about 5pm or 6pm, Khun Somporn, who had no pickup, dropped by and asked Khun Sanit if he wouldn't mind driving to Phuket.

Khun U-Rai heard the plan and said she'd be keen to go on a trip to Phuket, too.

However, Khun Somporn's wife, whose name has not been revealed, said that a couple in a pickup came by their home on Monday evening and her husband headed out with them immediately, saying nothing to her.

About 10pm that night, she tried to call her husband's mobile telephone, but there was no answer. She later heard about his murder on the news.

Khun Sanit today named to police four people he believed were probably involved in the murders. He said that on the trip from Krabi, Khun Somporn took many calls from a woman named Jum, who asked to meet him at the Mai San Nang Bungalow in Thalang.

She offered to accommodate them there overnight, but they chose instead to go to the home of a friend, police said Khun Sanit told them.

Khun Jum then accompanied them to a hut, where at least five men attacked them and beat them up, according to Khun Sanit. The three Krabi travellers were bound and blindfolded, and bundled into the back of the pickup, Khun Sanit told police.

Khun Sanit said he played dead after the beating, and while laying in the back of the pickup, heard two shots fired that killed his wife and Khun Somporn. He said he then heard the gun misfire, and believes that at the time, the gun was pointed at him, but that his amulets saved his life.

All three were allegedly dumped down a coastal hillside on a lonely Phuket road near the Andaman White Beach Resort.

Khun Sanit says he was able to stagger up the slope and alert locals to the murders. On Thursday, police are to seek warrants from Phuket Court for the arrests of Khun Jum and three men.

Khun Sanit is likely to remain in protective custody as the investigation continues.