Cops hatch surprise for thief
Marosati Je Ali
Ten police from Ban Bueng station last week set up a checkpoint on Highway 344 after hearing a gold thief, Marosati Je Ali, 30, was on board a minibus heading to Bangkok.
Mr Marosati had fled a durian plantation in Makham district, Chanthaburi where he worked as a casual labourer after stealing a gold necklace and bracelet from a Cambodian co-worker, identified as Phan, and making off on his boss’s motorcycle.
He stopped the bike in front of a local’s house where he persuaded the occupants to give him a ride into Muang district. There, he sold the gold necklace for 13,000 baht, put the bracelet on his wrist for safekeeping and bought a minibus ticket for his trip to Bangkok. After that he intended to travel to Yala to see his ailing father.
Nisarat Sangkanak and Teethawat Hiranrangsee, a husband and wife team who hired Mr Marosati to harvest durian, and kept him on to tend to the trees after the season ended, contacted police after realising their employee had stolen their motorbike and the co-worker’s jewellery.
“We have worked with him before and after hearing him complain that he would have to go and visit his sick dad, we decided to pay his wages [early] the next day so he could leave. However, he went and stole our bike first,” the pair told reporters.
“We tried contacting him, but had no luck; we also heard he had pinched gold from a co-worker."
One of the pair asked an elder sister who works at the bus terminal to tell the driver to stop in front of the police booth on the way to Bangkok but without telling their passenger.
Alerted via the 191 callline that the suspect was on board the vehicle, officers set up the checkpoint. When the minibus parked in front of their booth in Nong Chak sub-district, as the victim had arranged previously with the driver, officers got in the van and asked to check the passengers.
They found their suspect sitting on the right side towards the rear. They asked to check his ID and compared his likeness with a photo which the victims had sent. Realising they had caught their man, they arrested a surprised Mr Marosati, who admitted the robbery and put up no resistance.
The thief said he had stolen the gold to pay for his trip and intended to send the bracelet and the rest of the cash to the owner once he got home. However, he was caught first.
Police also found tin foil in his bag, similar to that which druggies use. A urine test showed Mr Marosati tested positive for speed.
His bosses, meanwhile, handed over a gift basket to police in thanks for their quick work in nabbing the thief.
Electrifying last act
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| The body of Opas Saengchan is retrieved from behind a chute at the hotel. |
A burglar who climbed to the second storey of a city hotel received a fatal shock when he touched a live wire installed to deter theft.
Opas Saengchan, 34, from Rayong, climbed to the second level of the eight-storey hotel in soi Sukhumvit 5, Wattana, hotel on Sept 4.
When he reached the second level he touched an electrified wire which the hotel had installed after it was last burgled about a month ago. He fell off the balcony and into the gap between a large air vent chute and the side of the hotel.
Opas’ right foot, which was still entangled in the electrical wire, carried burn marks.
The thief may have climbed a large tree on the right side of the hotel or the air chute to help reach the second storey. It is the same spot where the thief broke in a month before.
On that occasion, a tourist complained that his items had gone missing. News reports said hotel staff tried to catch the thief but were unsuccessful. Management installed the electrified wire to deter further break-ins.
The hotel would not comment to the media, and news reports did not identify it by name. It is unclear if Opas was the same man who broke in a month ago. Police found him with a bag containing 2,600 baht and the man’s ID card.
News reports say the current is switched on between 10pm and 5am. It was unclear if the hotel posted warning signs to deter theft, but a lawyer contacted by Amarin TV said the hotel was unlikely to suffer any legal consequences, as it had been burgled previously, and the electrical wire was not in a publicly accessible place.
Gold thief’s drugs sideline
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| Pratin ‘Tee Lek’ Nakkaemthong |
Surprised police found a stash of 800 speed pills as they arrested a Nakhon Pathom man for a flawed gold shop theft.
Nakhon Pathom provincial police, and officers from Bang Len station, nabbed Pratin “Tee Lek” Nakkaemthong, 31, after he robbed the Golden Swan gold shop at Hong Thong Yaowarat, in Bua Thong market, Bang Len, on Sept 1.
Tee Lek, dressed like a farmer, entered the shop and asked the owner, Wetchayan Prathumchat, to look at some gold necklaces. Mr Wetchayan presented three necklaces, each worth 2 baht in gold. When his attention was averted, Tee Lek grabbed them and fled the shop on a green Honda Sonic. He claims he dropped one necklace during his getaway; it has yet to turn up.
Police checked CCTV cameras which led them to a house in Naraphirom, Bang Len, where Tee Lek had gone into hiding. When they found him, he had spray-painted his getaway vehicle from green to black.
Tee Lek admitted staging the robbery. In an unexpected bonus, a search inside found 800 speed pills, and Tee Lek tested positive for speed when police asked him to take a urine test.
Police charged him with the gold shop robbery, taking speed and having drugs in his possession with intent to supply.
During a crime re-enactment at the shop, Tee Lek offered a wai of apology to the owner. Mr Wetchayan asked Tee Lek what had happened to the missing necklace, but he insisted he dropped it as he fled the shop.
Nabbed in the nick of time
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| Anuchit Chuangjamsai is nabbed with speed pills and the grenade (below left) |
Police in Trang spared a mother-in-law a nasty shock when they arrested a young man planning to throw a grenade at her house.
Crime Suppression Division police last week nabbed Anuchit Chuangjamsai, 26, at a hut in Nong Prue, Ratsada, after hearing that young people had gathered there to take drugs.
When police arrived they found him sitting there alone. Searching the place, they found a grenade in his bag.
They also found 10 speed pills hidden inside the hut, though Mr Anuchit insists they weren’t his.
He intended to throw it at his mother-in-law’s place to seek vengeance after she barred him from seeing her daughter.
Police charged him with taking drugs and having a weapon in his possession without permission.
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