Sithichai Srirat, 28, from Phang Nga province, was taken into custody at the airport yesterday (Nov 30) after Tha Chatchai Police were called in to investigate the disappearance of the missing haul of duty-free items.
According to the police report, airport security officer Somnuek Satthabot received a tip-off that some goods had disappeared from the stock of items to be sold on the Helsinki-bound aircraft.
Security officers managed to track down that the items disappeared somewhere between being allocated to be loaded onto the aircraft and the aircraft itself – which only left the “delivery area”.
The police were called in and the haul of high-end lifestyle products were soon found in a box covered with a towel hidden in the driver’s cab of a high-loader truck in the delivery area.
The haul of recovered items comprised: three Lifetron USB recharge battery packs; two Swarovski watches; three Earnshaw 1805 watches; a Swarovski necklace and a Swarovski pen; and three Versace, three Legend Montblanc and two Hugo Boss bottles of cologne.
Sithichai confessed to stealing the items, said the police report.
Sithichai was fired on the spot and police preparing to file formal charges against him for theft, the report noted.
The arrest of Sithichai follows that of 27-year-old Danai Buthjaw who allegedly stole a pair of pink of Adidas trainers from a bag belonging to a passenger who had arrived in Phuket on a flight from Don Mueang International Airport in Bangkok on November 25. (See story here.)