SUPHAN BURI - A police investigator recently given an "outstanding" performance award has been arrested for the armed robbery of 5 million baht from a cash-delivery van on Monday in Song Phi Nong district.
Pol L/C Withoon Phetpankan, 24, of Ban Bung district police station in Chon Buri, was apprehended at his residence in the early hours of Friday after investigators from Provincial Police Region 7 linked him to evidence found after the robbery, Thai media reported.
A lone robber, his face covered with a crash helmet, staged a daring daylight holdup of a Krungthai Bank money van making a delivery and escaped on a motorcycle with 5 million baht in cash on Nov 21.
The holdup occurred at an ATM at the PTT petrol station on Song Phi Nong-Lad Bua Luang Road in tambon Bang Len in Song Phi Nong district. During the heist the robber fired shots from a pistol. No one was hurt.
Police allege that Pol L/C Somnuek carried out the robbery, and Somnuek Somsuay, 35, a pop corn vendor at the petrol station, helped by informing him when the van arrived. The policeman's elder brother, Chaiyadet Phetpankan, 35, allegedly helped him escape.
Investigators later found an abandoned motorcycle, crash helmet and clothes believed worn by the robber by a salt pond at a deserted house in tambon Don Manao of Song Phi Nong district.
The suspect was still being interrogated. The other two suspects remained at large, reports said.
Pol L/C Somnuek was given an award for being an outstanding investigation officer at Ban Bung police station on Oct 13.
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