Suspect kidnapped in Bangkok after four weeks on the run
PUBLISHED: 8 Feb 2025 at 17: 36
After four days on the run, a Songkhla man was detained in Bangkok and taken to a gold store in Pathum Thani with golden ornaments and bars for more than 5 million ringgit.
Thapanas Nookate, 38, a native of Hat Yai, was apprehended in front of a shopping mall in Bang Khae and afterward taken to the Lam Luk Ka police depot, Pol Lt Gen Akkharadet Pimonsri, associate federal police chief, said on Saturday.
The Thanyaburi jury had a warrant for the suspect’s arrest on theft-related charges. A bike used in the assault was seized without a license plate. Three stolen gold bars and a gold necklace with an amulet, weighing 11 baht ( 167 grammes ) in total, were also seized from him.
The suspect robbed the Aurora golden store on the next floor of the store on Monday, according to surveillance videos that captured him riding a bike to the Big C superstore in Lam Luk Ka district’s tambon Bueng Kham Phroi on Monday.
The suspect made off with a total of 113-baht weight ( 1.7kg ) of gold necklaces and bars, worth 5.4 million baht. He dumped the vehicle into the Thanyaburi district’s Khlong Hok canal’s Rangsit Prayoonsak river following the assault.
Authorities took Thapanas for a re-enactment of violence at the store on Saturday.
Pol Lt Gen Akkharadet said officers extended the analysis that led to the arrest of 52 more stolen gold earrings, weighing 50 rmb, from the home of the criminal’s family. The believe had given two companions the last of the stolen silver ornaments to keep. Officers were attempting to locate the two people in search of the last items.
During doubting, Thapanas confessed to the costs. Before staging the assault, he claimed to have surveyed the place for three weeks.