Five of the cars were stolen from Phuket around February and March by the duo, who hired the cars and then simply never returned them.
Police say that sometimes they would call the car owners and demand a ransom in exchange for returning the car. Sometimes they would simply sell the cars cheap. Police believe they may also have pawned some cars at casinos, spending the money on gambling.
Police say another 13 cars reported missing in recent weeks were probably stolen by the couple, making for a grand total of 30 nicked vehicles.
Chalong police Lt Col Boonlert Onklang said yesterday (March 26) that three rental car owners in Chalong reported five cars missing in March, after they were not returned by the renters.
Car owner Pattarasiri Manokam reported that Phuket resident Sukanya Janthanarak, 40, rented a car for a month from her. Suphalak Krootmanee, 44, guaranteed the return of the car. The car was due to be returned in the middle of March, but was not.
Police say Sukanya and Suphalak also rented a car from Boonying Thonglor and failed to return it on the due date, March 16. Sukanya is alleged to have rented another three cars from Pitak Jansatien. Again, these were not returned by the due date, in this case March 14.
Col Boonlert said the car owners tried to call Sukanya and Supalak on the phone numbers they had provided, but these had been disconnected. The car owners then reported the thefts to Chalong police.
“Luckily, one of the five cars was fitted with a GPS (Global Positioning System) device so police could track it,” Col Boonlert said.
They tracked it to the Nakhon Sri Thammarat home of Thanatat Eakkabutra. There they also found two of the other four cars missing from Phuket, along with 14 others.
Thanatat told police that the two women sold him the cars cheap. He is now undergoing more questioning.
Mr Pitak has had two of his three cars returned, and Mr Boonying has retrieved his car – the one with the GPS. Ms Pattarasiri’s car, however, was not among those recovered.
The remainder of the cars seized at Thanatat’s house are being held in Promkiri Police Station in Nakhon Sri Thammarat.
Sukanya and Suphalak are still at large.