At around 12.55pm today (June 6) the suspect, named as Mr Laurie Viljoen Botha, filed a police report at Phuket City Municiaplity Police Station, alleging that various personal items had been robbed from his room at the Sino Imperial Hotel on Phuket Rd in Phuket City's Talad Yai sub district.
However, police became suspicious after they studied the hotel's CCTV footage which showed the suspect leaving the hotel with a bag (see picture).
Police then invited the suspect back to the police station for further questioning, a session which finally concluded with the suspect signing a three-page confession that he had lied about the robbery in order to file an insurance claim in his home country.