Three Turk Nationals Arrested in Bangkok on Warrants for Robbery

One of them drove the rented car while the other two suspects carried out the robberies.

 

BANGKOK – The Royal Thai Police in Bangkok have arrested three Turks wanted on warrants for robbery in central Bangkok on Sunday. Officers seized their passports, cash in baht and Singapore and US dollars, some women’s purses, five mobile phones, a rented car and other valuable items.

Images show the suspects and seized evidence

They were contacted about the men on Saturday by Samran Channgom, a lottery vendor at Bang Phli Yai Temple in Bang Phli district of Samut Prakan. She said two foreigners pretended to buy lottery tickets and tried to exchange a 1,000-baht banknote. The two then grabbed some banknotes off her and fled.

Police investigators said the group had used the trick to steal money from several Thais in Samut Prakan, Pathum Thani and Bangkok.

On Sunday morning, police apprehended the three Turks in an apartment in Pathumwan district of Bangkok and questioned them through a translator. They denied any wrongdoing, saying that they had just arrived in Thailand for work and travel. However, more than 20 victims of robberies identified them.

Rungtiwa Luangsaen, 25, one of the victims who works at a wholesale shop, said she was working in a grocery store in Pathum Thani when the suspects entered the shop to buy some products and asked to exchange a 1,000-baht banknote into smaller banknotes. They were speaking a foreign language, and while she was confused, the suspects stole around 60,000 baht from her and fled.

Pol Col Kornrawat Hanpradit, superintendent at Bang Phli police station, said the suspects pretended to be tourists and used the trick of speaking in a foreign language to cause confusion. One of them drove the rented car while the other two suspects carried out the robberies. – Online News