Police in the lower Northeast have mounted an investigation into widespread burglaries targeting hospitals and schools where some staff refused to file complaints fearing disciplinary action for allowing the thefts to occur under their watch.
Local police, along with officers from the Crime Suppression Division (CSD), are working together to track the burglars who swiped computers, TVs and other electrical appliances from at least 23 offices in the region.
Burglaries have increased in number in Khon Kaen, Buri Ram and Surin, although police do not yet know if the thefts across the lower northeastern provinces were committed by the same criminal network.
The burglaries have continued despite crackdowns and the arrests of some suspects, who included repeat offenders.
In October last year, the Provincial Police Region 4 nabbed three suspects who allegedly confessed to breaking into schools and stealing computers worth more than 700,000 baht in total.
The suspects — Noppol Wisetsud, 23, Preecha Thatiphan, 31, and Apichart Namhad, 22 — told police they sold the stolen items and spent the money on entertainment and drugs.
The suspects were detained along with more than a hundred stolen items including desktop computers, TVs and overhead projectors.
The suspects were caught at a house in Ban Hat district of Khon Kaen. According to police they and another suspect, who has been located and is under watch, broke into schools in Muang, Ban Hat and Phra Yuen districts and sold the stolen items to scrap metal shops.
Police are gathering evidence for the arrest of the fourth suspect, who lives in Buri Ram province.
Pol Col Pantana Nuchanat, deputy chief of the CSD, said the fourth suspect is believed to hold a vital clue to the burglaries.
A police investigation showed the suspects had raided up to 14 schools in three districts, mostly during long weekends and school breaks. They picked a computer room and cut open a padlock with a bolt cutter.
Police said least 23 schools, government offices and hospitals in the lower northeastern provinces under the Provincial Police Region 4's jurisdiction have been burgled, with their computers, TVs and other valuable objects stolen. The incidents occurred from mid-2014 until last month.
In Surin, rampant burglaries targeting state offices including schools, universities and community health centres were also reported. Pol Lt Col Surat Khlaithuk, deputy chief of Muang police station, said 11 state offices in the province have been broken into since May last year.
Police believe the perpetrators are either ex-convicts who have finished their sentences, or teenage drug addicts.
Some of the buildings, raided between 2-3am, were guarded.
"I believe if we can track the stolen items, we will eventually track the suspects. This is our way of investigating. That said, it is difficult to find the stolen items, as some might have been disassembled and sold as parts," said Pol Lt Col Surat.
"What's strange about these cases is teachers of the schools that were burgled didn't lodge complaints with police," he said.
Instead, the teachers pooled together money to buy new computers, he said.
The teachers said they were afraid of being blamed for failing to prevent the theft of state assets. The police had to persuade the teachers to formally file complaints. he said.
Pol Col Pantana believes more schools may have been burgled with teachers once again opting not to file complaints.
All police could do was step up security patrol and encourage communities to keep an eye out for suspicious activities.
Contact Crime Track: crimetrack@bangkokpost.co.th