Units stolen from police kiosks and sold at deep discounts to other rescuers, police say
Police have arrested two rescue workers for stealing several public defibrillators that they sold at steep discounts to other rescuers, according to the Bangkok police chief.
Roongrote La-orchaem, 37, was apprehended on Wednesday at a house on Soi Wat Kai Tia Road in Taling Chan district. Weerayut Nonpan, 32, was caught on Charansanitwong 28/7 Road in Bangkok Noi.
Police also retrieved five stolen defibrillators, said Pol Lt Gen Thiti Saengsawang, commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Bureau.
The discovery that at least 27 automated external defibrillators (AED) had been stolen from police kiosks on Bangkok streets is the latest in a string of recent embarrassments for the force.
Pol Lt Gen Thiti said Mr Roongrote, who was a rescue worker in Bangkok Noi, had posted messages online offering to sell defibrillators at unusually low prices. When police searched his house, he told them he had stolen six defibrillators and sold all of them.
The suspect reportedly told investigators that he carried out the first theft to get money to repair his car, then stole more out of greed.
The defibrillators were installed at police booths on streets for emergency use to aid people suffering heart attacks.
The suspect told police he stole units from police booths in Pomprap Sattruphai, Bang Rak, Pathumwan and Samphanthawong districts between late December and mid-January. He sold them to Mr Weerayut at 12,000 baht apiece.
Mr Weerayut said he sold the stolen devices to rescue workers in other areas at 13,000 to 15,000 baht each.
The market price of the stolen AEDs is at about 80,000 baht.
Pol Maj Gen Thiti said police did not believe the pair had stolen only six defibrillators because nearly 30 such devices had disappeared from police booths in the capital recently.