At 11;45am Phuket City police received a call from the Maneemart gold shop in Rassada stating that a man had came in and tried to pawn a fake 2-baht gold necklace for B30,000.
The shop owner said that after examining the necklace it was found to be fake so the man was detained.
Police arrived at the shop to find the shop staff detaining 29-year-old Sarawut Jaksien.
Sarawut revealed to police that he and six friends rented a room at Pimprapai Place on Rassadanusorn Rd on June 30 for three nights.
“At 10:30 this morning (July2) my friend dropped me off at the gold shop and told me to came back on a motorbike taxi when I had pawned the necklace. I went inside and asked to pawn the necklace for B30,000.
“When the shop owner realised it was fake I tried to run but was caught,” Sarawut told police.
Sarawut also told police that on Wednesday (July 1) his friend named Korn had pawned a piece of fake gold jewellery to the same shop but managed to get away with the B30,000.
The shop owner said that at around 1:45pm on Monday a slim man aged around 20 came to the shop and wanted to pawn a gold necklace for B30,000.
“I checked the necklace and it seemed to be authentic so I gave the man the cash. However, when I checked again it turned out that only the clasp of the necklace was real gold.
“When Sarawut came in today he tried to pull the same trick. However, when I checked this necklace I knew it was made of the same material as the one yesterday. I told my brothers to help apprehend Sarawut before contacting the police,” he said
Sarawut was taken to Phuket City Police Station where he was charged with fraud and questioned about his friends. He gave the police some information and after checking CCTV they found that Sarawut̕s friends had left the area before they arrived.
However, they did find out that they all travel in a bronze Toyota Sportrider, licence plate number unknown.
Police are on alert looking for the group so that they can bring them in for questioning.