Police there arrested a Thai man who allegedly stole €4,900 from a Greek family vacationing in Phuket. The family had almost left their money in their car, assuming it would be safer than their hotel room because there was no safe there to store anything. The suspect is said to have told the police that he spent most of the money and that only 500 euros are left.
CCTV footage showed the man wearing a black hood and face mask walking across the parking lot and looking into the cars.
The Greek father, Mr Alexandros Alexiadis, who visited Phuket with his family, drove his car to Karon Beach around 5 pm on January 25, visited the supermarket, went back to the hotel and parked his car around 8 pm that night. He forgot his money and left the car without locking the doors, the next morning the money was gone.
The story went viral on Thai social media and they even received 51,000 baht from an anonymous donor who wanted to support him while the police investigated.
On CCTV footage, police saw a shadow on the wall that made it look like the suspect stopped on a motorcycle. Officers viewed CCTV footage along the route the suspect may have used to escape and eventually found a video of a rider matching the description. Police continued to track the motorcycle until the license plate and owner were found.
The vehicle’s owner told police that her friend Kanapong Sakhoncharoen alias “First” had borrowed her motorcycle on January 25. She told the officers that First had told her to borrow a motorcycle to visit his mother and bring him back the next day. He came back with the money and even showed it to her, the motorcycle owner said.
Police eventually arrested First on Saturday while he was visiting a supermarket near his home. Officers took him to the Karon Police Station for questioning. The suspect has reportedly admitted to visiting various places to loot the money from the cars outside the hotel in Phuket.
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