The man, named by police as Nahum Pedre, 25, was taken into custody after midnight last night.
Police began their search for Nahum after reports of two separate robberies at knifepoint on Friday – one at Karon Viewpoint at 9:30am and again near Karon Circle at 1:09pm – were filed by Chinese tourists.
Chinese tourist Jin Yang, 24, reported he had been robbed of his bag, containing his pink iPhone 7, B10,000 in cash and 3,500 yuan (about B17,000), at Karon Viewpoint.
Fellow Chinese tourist Miss Luo Dan (age not given) reported she had been robbed of her bag, containing her iPhone 6 S, B5,000 cash, 3,000 yuan (about B14,800) and her ID card near Karon Circle.
Officers tracked down Nahum to his rented house in Rawai via CCTV footage, and were duly issued a warrant for his arrest yesterday (Mar 11), explained Maj Preecha Bahring of the Karon Police.
“At the house police found a five-inch blade and the motorbike used in the robberies,” he added.
Nahum was placed under arrest and later charged with committing robbery with the use of a weapon, Maj Preecha confirmed.
Nahum confessed to committing the robberies, but said he had never robbed people before, police reported.
Regardless, Nahum this morning (Mar 12) assisted police conducting their investigation by retracing his actions from Friday.
From the search of the house, police recovered B8,540 and US$800, and just six Chinese yuan in cash.
Regardless, Karon Police said they were continuing to question Nahum.