According to the initial report, an Australian man and a Slovakian woman*, both 28, were robbed by two Thai men on a motorbike in front of Phuket’s Downtown fresh market.
At 10pm last night, police apprehended the first suspect after tracing him using CCTV footage to a house on Soi 3 of Surin Rd in Phuket Town’s Talad Yai subdistrict.
The suspect, named as 29-year-old Somchai Buraphut of Phuket, fit the description of the driver, and his green Kawasaki KSR motorbike also fit the description of the vehicle used in the robbery, police said.
After confronting the suspect and showing him their CCTV evidence, police said the suspect confessed to committing the robbery with his younger brother, named as 20-year-old Mr Sompong.
Somchai led police to his younger brother at a house on Soi Saen Suk 2, also in Talad Yai, where he was arrested and also confessed to the crime.
Police recovered the handbag, identity documents and a black Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini, which were returned to the victims, although the money had allegedly already been spent after being split between the two suspects.
Apologetically, Somchai told police that he and his brother only robbed the tourists to get money to party and cover their daily expenses.
Police seized as evidence two T-shirts said to have been worn by the suspects during the crime – a red-and-gray one worn by Mr Somchai, and a yellow-and-black one worn by Mr Sompong – as well as the motorbike.
The suspects were charged with “joining together to use a vehicle at night for the convenience of committing robbery”.
* Names of the victims removed at the request of both of the victims.