NONTHABURI: Police have arrested one of three men who stormed two condominium rooms at Muang Thong Thani and assaulted six people before escaping with cash early Saturday.
The robbery occurred at Muang Thong Thani Building P1 on Chaeng Watthana Road in Pak Kret district when the three men, claiming to be police officers searching for narcotics, entered the seventh-floor room at around 3am.
Suddenly, one of them pulled out a pistol to threaten five people, including four women and a girl. The two other men assaulted the women before ransacking the room and stealing more than 10,000 baht in cash, five mobile phones and some documents.
Three of the women, who were visiting from southern Thailand, sustained injuries from being struck with alcohol bottles, Thai media reported.
Police question witnesses at the Muang Thong Thani condominium complex following the robbery of two rented units on Saturday. (js100radio photo)
The thieves then forced one of the women to lead them to a room on the fifth floor. They broke in and found three men sleeping inside. The thieves attacked the men and ransacked the room but did not find any valuable items. They fled in a taxi.
Police rushed to the scene after being alerted by the victims and found three injured women inside the room on the seventh floor.
The injured women -- Preeda Sitthisak, 44, of Trang, Chayada Muleng, 37, of Songkhla, and Suparb Sitthisa, 48, of Songkhla -- were taken to a nearby hospital. The three men sustained minor injuries.
Wanida Nideha, 40, one of the five women, told police that she and her group had travelled from the South to attend a conference on online direct sales of cosmetics in the Challenger Hall at the Muang Thong Thani complex. They had rented the rooms for their stay.
Pol Lt Gen Chaiwat Ketvorachai, chief of Provincial Police Region 1, said closed-circuit television camera footage led police to arrest one of the suspects.
Seized from the 30-year-old suspect was a government ID card, ID cards belonging to some of the victims and a BB gun. The suspect admitted to having colluded with two accomplices, said Pol Lt Gen Chaiwat.