Lt Col Sakon Krainara of the Phuket City Police was called to the scene of the car break-in, Plus Mansion located on Ruampattana Rd in Baan Kuku, Rassada, at 9am yesterday (Oct 6).
At the scene he and other officers found the lawyer, Kaewjai Khunduea, 45, standing beside her black Bangkok-registered Nissan Sunny with one if its doors open in the car park, where about 20 other cars were parked.
Ms Kaewjai, apparently still in a state of shock, asked police to examine inside her car, Col Sakon noted in his report.
The interior of the car was in a state of disarray, with many personal items scattered throughout and the glove box left open and many official documents on the floor of the front passenger footwell.
According to Ms Kaewjai, a gold necklace valued at about B22,000, a gold bracelet valued at about B22,000, two gold rings valued at about B5,000 each, a laptop computer, B3,000 cash, ATM cards and a card identifying her as a lawyer had been stolen.
Ms Kaewjai told police knew that she had driven from Songkhla together with three family members to see the Phuket Vegetarian Festival street processions, and for her to prepare for the election of the Phuket Lawyer Council President which will be held this coming Saturday (Oct 12).
They had arrived at Plus Mansion at about 11:30pm on Saturday night. After checking in, they took a rest in their rooms, she said.
Yesterday morning (Oct 6), the group were going to see the Kathu Shrine street procession, but when Ms Kaewjai opened the car door she found the interior of the car in disarray and quickly found that the gold jewellery she had left in the car was missing.
Police reported that they found no evidence that the car had been entered by force, but Ms Kaewjai admitted that when she arrived the left back door was not completely closed and that it might have been her fault for not checking it was closed properly and locked, Col Sakon reported.
Regardless, Ms Kaewjai offered a B10,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest of the thief and resulted in her stolen jewellery being returned.
Police checked CCTV at the hotel and found a slim man wearing a long-sleeved shirt and long pants riding up to the mansion at 6:15am, Col Sakon noted.
The man stole an envelope containing money for making merit from behind the front counter, before he proceeded out to the hotel car park, Col Sakon explained.
Although the CCTV footage was unable to confirm what the man did in the car park, it did capture his face clearly, Col Sakon added.
However, the CCTV footage did show a man, likely a night security guard, in a chair behind the front desk while the thief stole the envelope.
People with information that may lead to the arrest of the thief are urged to call Phuket City Police Station at 076-212046.