Police have arrested a taxi driver and two friends, also cabbies, over the robbery of a Myanmar man and the kidnapping of his pregnant wife who was eventually left at a Don Muang building on Saturday.
The three men were identified as Srawut Lopuay, 30, Chalee Nukhao, 38, and Anant Iam-laor, 37.
Police apprehended Mr Srawut and Mr Chalee on Sunday at a market in Nong Phai district of Petchabun, where they had gone into hiding. Mr Anant surrendered to police late in the day.
The men initially face charges of armed robbery against Tan Su Oon, 30, and his wife Ei Ei Mun, 26, both from Myanmar.
Police said the couple had taken a bus from Mae Sot district in Tak province on Friday night and planned to get off at Mor Chit bus terminal the following morning, where they would travel on to Samut Prakan province. But they fell asleep and disembarked at a cinema in the Rangsit area, Pathum Thani instead.
Mr Anant saw the couple and persuaded them to travel to Samut Prakan in a taxi driven by Mr Srawut.
Pathum Thani police chief Pol Maj Gen Thaworn Khowsa-ard said Mr Srawut drove around Rangsit area and tried to intimidate the Myanmar passengers into giving him money and their belongings but the couple resisted. He then made a phone call to Mr Chalee and Mr Anant and pick them up along the way.
The gang drove the pair to an isolated location on Chiang Rak Road in Pathum Thani’s Sam Khok district, took Mr Tan from the vehicle, beat him up until he passed out and left him there.
They stole 500 baht in cash from Mr Tan along with his mobile phone worth 5,500 baht and fled in the taxi with Mrs Ei, who is two months pregnant, still inside.
The men took the woman to an apartment building in the Don Muang area and stole 700 baht in cash and a mobile phone valued about 3000 baht from her. They then fled separately.
Pol Maj Gen Thaworn said officers had recovered the stolen items from the suspects and seized Mr Srawut’s green and yellow taxi which had the number plate Mor Chor 8872 along with Mr Chalee’s vehicle, also a yellow and green taxi with the number plate Mor Ngor 9630.