Police foil bank heist with CCTV

Police foil bank heist with CCTV

Police now want to link cameras across Bangkok in a unified system.

Less than four years ago, Bangkok Governor MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra installs the 10,000th closed-circuit TV camera at Victory Monument, and now police want to link them all into one network. (Photo by Apichart Jinakul)
Less than four years ago, Bangkok Governor MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra installs the 10,000th closed-circuit TV camera at Victory Monument, and now police want to link them all into one network. (Photo by Apichart Jinakul)

CCTV cameras are everywhere these days and their role in helping police swiftly apprehend two bank robbers last week has revitalised efforts to use CCTV cameras, both privately and publicly owned, to prevent crime in Bangkok.

The Royal Thai Police Office (RTPO) is planning to link CCTV cameras belonging to the police, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA), the military, commercial banks, gold shops and convenience stores into a unified system to boost city security.

The police want to host a 24-hour CCTV monitoring facility at their headquarters to monitor feeds from throughout the capital to improve their response time when crimes take place.

The impetus for this plan was a bank heist last Wednesday. Two men robbed Thanachart Bank's Rama II branch in Chom Thong district and made off in a taxi with 420,000 baht.

Ruengsak: Reducing chances of crime

Prateep Jenkettrakarn, a 29-year-old taxi driver, was later summoned to give a statement after CCTV footage showed the suspects fleeing the scene in his pink taxi, bearing Bangkok licence plates.

Mr Prateep said he drove along Rama II expressway and dropped off the pair in front of a massage parlour on Rama III Road.

Next, officers from Metropolitan Police Division 8 and Bang Mot police station searched the footage of CCTV cameras along the robbers' possible escape routes.

This helped them narrow the search area for the robbers and led them to a witness who identified one of the suspects as a resident of his neighbourhood.

Police were able to apprehend suspect Apithan Huangeiam, 51, at his home in Bangkok's Bang Khunthian district, and Sorakrit Saejiew, 48, in Samut Prakan's Phra Pradaeng district, on the same day of the robbery. 

Police said they retrieved only 219,000 baht of the loot from Mr Sorakrit's house. Officers said he and Mr Apithan had used the rest of the money to pay off loan sharks. The pair had claimed this was the motive for their heist.

Mr Sorakrit used to work as a cleaner for a hotel on Witthayu Road before losing his job and being forced to rely on loan sharks. Mr Apithan, a minibus driver in the Thon Buri area, was more than 200,000 baht in debt.

According to police, Mr Sorakrit said he met Mr Apithan at the office of a loan shark and the two hatched the robbery plan in the hope of clearing their debts.   

Mr Sorakrit had said he had visited Thanachart bank and not noticed any security guards.

Little did he know it would be the CCTV footage that would lead police to his door.

After the robbery, deputy national police chief Ruengsak Charit-ek, who oversees crime prevention operations, said he wanted to link as many CCTVs in the city as he could and ensure the monitoring room was manned by officers around the clock.

But this is only part of the strategy. The other is to involve village volunteers and public agencies like the BMA and the Metropolitan Electricity Authority (MEA) to help prevent crimes.

"Authorities will join hands with the BMA and the MEA, as well as proprietors of banks and gold shops in Bangkok and other provinces. We will discuss crime prevention measures with them and they will play a role in helping us reduce crime," Pol Gen Ruengsak said.

The plan is under way. Some CCTV cameras have already been linked to the RTPO centre under the project's first phase. A centralised database will also be part of this system.

In the second phase, more CCTV cameras will be installed and the MEA will improve street lighting, while the BMA improves the physical condition of risk-prone areas.

Around 230 locations in Bangkok have been identified as crime-prone areas because they are dark, secluded and deserted, according to surveys conducted by 88 police stations in the capital.

Police themselves will step up measures by setting up checkpoints.

With hundreds of CCTV cameras linked and with public cooperation, opportunities for crime will be greatly diminished, Pol Gen Ruengsak said.


Contact Crime Track: crimetrack@bangkokpost.co.th

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