Gold shop robbers still at large
Police appear to be making no headway in catching the two men involved in the robbery of a Phuket Town gold shop in June.
Saturday 20 August 2011, 04:30AM
Police appear to be making no headway in catching the two men involved in the robbery of a Phuket Town gold shop in June.
The owners of the Thanet Gold Shop on Chao Fah Rd, Jantana and Jirasak Tanattanasombat, are becoming increasingly frustrated, especially in light of the recent meteoric rise in the price of gold worldwide.
They lost more than 3 kilograms of gold jewellery, worth well over B5 million, in the robbery, carried out by a man who threatened them with what turned out to be a fake gun.
They are also concerned that police patrols, who came by the shop frequently after the robbery, now seem to have tailed off.
“In the first few weeks after the robbery the police came by to check quite often. But now they don't come as frequently,” Mrs Jintana told The Phuket News.
“It’s almost three months [since the robbery] but there has been little movement. It seems that there is now little interest in the case. I don’t want to stay alone at the shop anymore.”
To boost security, Mr Jirasak has installed security bars in the shop and has had the alarm system fixed. The system was supposed to summon the police at the press of a button but on the day of the robbery it did not work.
The Deputy Superintendent of Phuket Town Police, Col Jamroon Playduang, denied that the police have lost interest in the case. He said police are still hunting for the two robbers in Chumphon and Surat Thani provinces.
One is known to be from Surat Thani and to go by the name Ake, but investigators have not yet been able to identify his companion, who drove the getaway bike.
The gold shop owners are still offering a reward of B200,000 to anyone providing a tip-off that leads to the arrest of the two men, but so far this has failed to provide results.
Anyone with information about the robbery should contact Phuket Town Police Superintendent Col Chote Chitchai on 081 970 2523, or Col Jamroon on 089 729 9055.
