Police in Pattaya have intensified their manhunt for a gang of three hooded robbers who stormed a rented home in a gated community and made off with a safe containing over 2 million baht in cash from a British chef.
The incident occurred late on the night of February 26th, 2026, at a house in Chokchai Village 9, The victim, now fully identified by police as 32-year-old British national Wesleigh Cyril Russell, a chef who works abroad, was at home with his 34-year-old Thai girlfriend (identified only as Ms. Chandee to protect her privacy) and two British friends sharing the residence. (Originally reported as only one).
According to police and witness accounts, the three suspects, dressed in black hooded clothing and armed with knives, forced their way into the property. One assailant held a knife to Mr. Russell’s neck while demanding the location of cash and speaking in what seemed to be a native foreign accent. The gang forced the victims into the kitchen, seized two mobile phone, an iPhone 16 and an iPhone 14, before heading upstairs to the second-floor bedroom. There, they located and carried out a safe hidden in a wardrobe, which contained more than 2 million baht in cash that the couple had recently withdrawn from a bank to prepare for purchasing a new house.
The robbers then loaded the safe into a black four-door pickup truck parked nearby and fled the scene. As they exited the village, they rammed through the barrier arm at the security checkpoint, damaging it, after a security guard attempted to open it. Surveillance footage from the village entrance captured the vehicle entering at approximately 10:19 p.m. (clock showing 13 minutes behind real time) and exiting around 10:38 p.m. It was unclear why security let the unidentified truck in and the guard was still being interviewed as of press time.
On February 27th, 2026, at around noon, Pol. Col. Natthaphon Phong Suk Sakun, superintendent of Nong Prue Police Station, led a joint team, including investigators from Nong Prue Police, Chonburi Provincial Police forensic officers (Region 2), and provincial crime suppression units back to the scene to collect additional evidence. This included lifting latent fingerprints from the suspects.
Investigators also recovered the victims’ stolen mobile phones, which the robbers had discarded in a forested area near railway tracks, about 2-3 kilometers from the house. The suspects then headed toward Wat Bun Kanchana Ram Road, leading police to believe they remain in the Pattaya area but may have gone into hiding aware of the massive media attention.
Mr. Russell, who most recently arrived in Thailand in November 2025 and had been staying for about three months, provided further statements along with his Thai girlfriend and the other British housemates to refine suspect descriptions. Police are scrutinizing CCTV footage from before and after the incident.
Authorities strongly suspect an inside job, believing someone provided a tip-off about the recent large cash withdrawal and its storage in the safe. They indicated that at least one Thai national is likely involved in the gang. However, as interviews are ongoing and the investigation continues police were vague on this factor and who they suspected leaked the information.
A neighbor told Thai media on condition of anonymity that they speculated that someone inside the household must have leaked the information, as the cash withdrawal occurred just 2-3 days prior. Notably, the home housed four people, three British men and one Thai woman, and was rented for 25,000 baht per month said the neighbor. A large Pitbull dog was present in the house but reportedly remained calm and non-aggressive during the ordeal.
Police continue to hunt the suspects, described as tall and sturdy and possibly foreign, at least the main speaker, and are preparing arrest warrants while focusing on potential local accomplices and tipsters. No arrests have been made as of the latest update.
