Police handed out the sketch of a dark-skinned Thai male of about 170 centimetres in height - who could speak English, but not fluently - to members of the public and all city police stations.

Two police units are searching for the man - one is seeking information about him around the Sukhumvit Soi 22 area while the other is looking for items that he might have sold to pawnshops or cell phone shops across the city.

Metropolitan Police Division 5 Commander Maj-General Anan Srihiran said the businessman, Mark Jay Keffer, 42, was not close to the Sultan of Brunei as some news reports had suggested, but was a son-in-law of a former Brunei minister.

On Monday night, Keffer, who reportedly worked in Brunei, was celebrating Christmas with his wife and six others at a relative's condominium in Khlong Toei district when a gunman entered from a balcony and robbed the party guests at gunpoint, taking Bt15,000 in cash, seven wristwatches and a digital camera.

Keffer's wife hit the robber

with her handbag and he then opened fire, killing Keffer and wounding her and two relatives from Brunei.