PATTAYA: Pattaya Police have arrested two Thai men accused of breaking into a hotel room and stealing gold, cash and luxury bags worth more than one million baht from a Thai woman visiting from Phichit.
At 11.26pm on September 3rd, Police Lieutenant Colonel Suradech Imjai, investigation inspector at Pattaya City Police Station, and Police Sub-Lieutenant Kritsada Wanset said officers detained Patcharapol “Nam” Charoenpirayan, 42, and Khatawut Wannasri, 33, at a rented room.
Recovered items included a five-baht gold bracelet, a two-baht gold necklace, a gold ring, some cash, three designer handbags, and the stolen safe.
The victim, a woman from Phichit, reported the theft on September 1st to Police Lieutenant Colonel Sutheeraphan Tapsri. She said someone forced open the door of room 208 in her Pattaya hotel room and took three brand-name bags, gold totaling 11 baht in weight and 100,000 baht in cash. Combined losses exceeded one million baht.
Investigators reviewed CCTV footage of the suspects fleeing, then identified them. Police said the pair used a friend’s national ID card to rent a room in South Pattaya. Officers surrounded the room and arrested them inside. Some of the stolen gold was still in their possession. One bracelet had already been sold at a gold shop and recast as a necklace that one suspect was wearing. The ring, police said, was meant for his girlfriend.
Both men confessed. One said he pried open the rear door of the victim’s room, took the property and left on a rented motorcycle while the other waited. They spent the proceeds on nights out and gifts for women, they told police.
The two were charged with theft committed at night and handed to investigators at Pattaya City Police Station for further legal proceedings.
