Wichit Police received and filed a complaint this morning at 9am from the three Chinese nationals who were named as Ms Weiwei Pan, 33, of Guangxi, Ms Wei Chen, 34 of Sichuan, and Mr Zheng 26, of Hunan.
Ms Wei and Mr Zheng claimed that the money that went missing from their residence at Phuket Villa Suan Luang housing estate had belonged to them, and had gone missing sometime last night if not early this morning.
They suspected it had been stolen from their respective wallets, allegedly kept in the bedroom that Mr Zheng slept in by himself.
According to the police report filed, Ms Wei lost B7,000 and 5,000 Yuan (about B27,000) from a wallet kept in the room of Mr Zheng; Mr Zheng himself also reported that B75,000 and 5,000 Yuan had been taken from his own wallet, also kept in his room.
The two Chinese women reportedly slept in a separate room but did not clarify why Ms Wei’s wallet was kept in Mr Zheng’s room, which was reportedly not locked, while he slept there the previous night.
All three Chinese nationals gave testament that the money was discovered missing when they woke up this morning at about 8am, but were unable to provide police with anything more than suspicions.
The Chinese told police that they were suspicious of a Thai man who also resided in the house with them, who had reportedly left the house early this morning for a duration of about 30 minutes, before the money was discovered missing.
Police questioned the Thai man, named as Mr Thachapol Jitbrasong, 58, of Phuket, who said he is a guide who works with Pacific Tour, the same company that employs the Chinese nationals, and specializes in making reservations with local companies for Chinese group tours.
Mr Thachapol, who reportedly slept on a sofa in the living room of the house, told police that he left the house this morning to visit a watchsmith to repair his watch, but did not know anything about the missing money.
The investigation is ongoing.