Gold shop robber arrested
PHUKET: Police have arrested one of two robbers who grabbed 11 gold necklaces worth B850,000 from a gold shop in Phuket City yesterday. His partner in crime is still on the run.
Sunday 30 October 2011, 12:17AM
Taechin Gongsinon, 22, admitted to Phuket City Police that he and his partner had robbed the Tanet One gold shop on Dilok U-Thit 2 Rd, near Robinson department store, yesterday afternoon.
However, he claimed he didn’t know the name of his henchman as they had met just before agreeing to rob the gold shop together.
After grabbing the gold the two fled on a rented motorbike, which was later found abandoned at the Post Office on Montri Rd.
Police identified Taechin because he had used a copy of his ID card to rent the bike from a rental shop not far from the post office.
This morning, police raided Taechin’s parents’ home in Phuket Garden View village in Rassada sub-district. Two necklaces stolen from the gold shop were found in the house.
Six more necklaces, along with a key of the rented bike and the clothes Taechin wore during the robbery were found in Taechin’s house in the same development.
Taechin told police he had taken part in the robbery because he had run up debts of B200,000 gambling on soccer.
He told police that another three gold necklaces were with his confederate. Police said that, having looked at CCTV footage, they were confident they would soon identify the second robber.
Tanet One gold shop is commercially connected with Tanet Two on Patipat Rd, which was robbed in June. Police are still hunting the people involved in that robbery, so far without success.
