Police set up a cordon in the Kathu area yesterday following a tipoff from Kosol’s wife.
Kosol somehow managed to escape the cordon, but turned himself into police this morning, after he walked out of the forest at Kathu waterfall, where he was hiding, and slept rough in town for a night.
Kosol confessed to police at Phuket police station that he, together with his accomplice “Mek”, had robbed the Yongchuan gold shop on August 17.
Following the robbery, he gave a handful of gold to Mek. Then, afterwards, he went to see his wife and gave her the rest, keeping only 1 Baht for himself.
Kosol told police that the reason for the robbery was so he could afford to send his wife to hospital for treatment for her heart condition. He also owes B400,000 in debt following an illegal snooker bet.
Kosol says that he watched television after he emerged from the forest, and saw his wife has been arrested. He then decided to surrender himself to police in order to see his wife one last time and tell her that he loves her - because she may not live long due to her disease.
According to Kosol, his accomplice Mek has already escaped from Phuket. According to the last phone conversation with him, Kolsol says that Mek said he was in Chumphon province.
Kosol is currently being questioned by police at the Phuket Police Station in Phuket Town.
Kosol and an accomplice wearing wigs robbed a gold shop in Mubaan Kaeha, in the Rassada Port area of Phuket Town, at about 1pm on Monday.
One of them threatened the owner of the Yong Shuan gold shop with a gun and then fired shots, though it appears the gun was only loaded with blanks.
The men then grabbed around two kilograms of gold, worth about B3.6 million, before fleeing on a motorbike.
They wore wigs to help disguise their identity during the robbery, but were caught wigless on CCTV as they drove away from the scene, grinning broadly.