Bangkok: The Metropolitan Police Bureau chief announced the arrest of two suspects in a robbery at a famous shopping mall. 1.9 million baht worth of stolen goods has been seized. The remaining five suspects will request arrest warrants from the court this afternoon.
According to Thai News Agency, Pol. Lt. Gen. Sayam Boonsom, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, announced the progress of the arrest of suspects in the robbery of 3.4 million baht in cash at a shopping mall in the Lat Phrao area last night. He stated that police officers have now been able to track down and arrest two suspects: Mr. Cherpatch or Nao and Ms. Nana. They were arrested at a resort in Lat Lum Kaeo District, Pathum Thani Province at 1:00 a.m. In addition, 1.9 million baht in cash, which was a share of the proceeds from the crime, clothing worn during the crime, bank accounts and ATM cards, and items obtained from previous crimes committed by the two suspects, were seized.
From the initial interrogation, both suspects confessed to the evidence, claiming that Mr. Cherpatch would act as an agent or representative to trick people into buying and selling cryptocurrency through various Facebook groups. When he met the victims, he would pretend to talk to them. If they agreed, they would add them on Line and trick them into buying and selling. In this case, the victim had already been tricked twice, for 200,000 baht and 300,000 baht. It is believed that this was a trick to trick the victims into believing that they were at ease before agreeing to buy and sell for 3.4 million baht at a shopping mall in the Lat Phrao area. When he arrived, he pretended to ask to see the money. When he found that there was real money, he would trick the victims into going to the car and commit the crime.
As for Ms. Nana, it is clear from the CCTV footage that she was sitting in a sedan and was on duty to get another victim who was carrying a wallet to get in the car. After the incident, the group of perpetrators took the two suspects to a rented house in the Prachaniwet 3 area before dividing the money and giving them taxi fare to escape to a rented resort in Lam Luk Ka District, Pathum Thani Province, to go their separate ways and avoid arrest.
However, from the evidence seized from the two suspects, no firearms were found. The issue of firearms was only the testimony of the victim who said that he saw the suspects making gestures and threatening that they had firearms, but he did not actually see any firearms.
In addition, the two suspects implicated five other perpetrators, totaling seven perpetrators. They stated that the mastermind was Mr. Pun, who received the remaining 1.5 million baht. They all knew each other from their past involvement in crimes, including drug use and renting a place together. The police are currently investigating whether the perpetrators have committed similar crimes before. They expect to expedite the collection of evidence this afternoon and request the court's permission to issue arrest warrants for the remaining five perpetrators on the same charges. As for the cars used in the crime, there were two of them, and it is believed that both of them fled.
Initial findings show that the four perpetrators who are currently being tracked down have a history of being prosecuted for theft, robbery, and drug offenses. As for Mr. Cherpatch and Ms. Nana, it was found that previously arrest warrants had been issued in the Khok Khram Police Station area for extortion.
Pol. Lt. Gen. Siam revealed that this case is an example that must be warned to the public because the victims chose to buy and sell cryptocurrency directly through an agent, not through a legitimate platform because they would get a higher profit. On average, if they bought and sold at a price of 1 million baht, they would get a profit of 20,000 baht. In this case, they bought and sold as much as 3.4 million baht, which would make a profit of as much as 60,000 baht. Therefore, we would like to warn the public to buy and sell cryptocurrency through legitimate channels to prevent them from being deceived by criminals who may infiltrate and cause damage like this case.