Burglar shot dead inside diamond shop

Burglar shot dead inside diamond shop

Police inspect the jewellery store in Hat Yai district of Songkhla on Tuesday, after a burglar was shot dead there overnight. (Photo by Witchayant Boonchote)
Police inspect the jewellery store in Hat Yai district of Songkhla on Tuesday, after a burglar was shot dead there overnight. (Photo by Witchayant Boonchote)

SONGKHLA — A 38-year-old burglar who broke into a diamond seller's shop in Hat Yai district was shot dead by the owner, a former policeman, in the early hours of Tuesday.

The intruder, identified later as Somsak Phethong,  entered Hangphet PV Jewellery shop on Soi Phetkasem 28 off Phetkasem Road In Hat Yai municipality through the back door around 3am, Wichai Wannawong, 68, former Songkhla police officer and owner of the shop, told police.

The owner’s younger brother Boonyakorn Chansawang, 45, lives on the second floor of the four-storey building and was awoken by the noise. He went downstairs and came across the burglar.

He attacked the burglar, who hit back at him. The owner, asleep on the fourth floor, was also awoken by the noise and rushed downstairs to see what was afoot. He saw the burglar running up to the second floor, he said.

Mr Wichai said the intruder came at him with a screwdriver, so he shot him three times with his .38 pistol.

Pol Col Pasakorn Klanwan, superintendent at Hat Yai police station, led a team of investigators to the  scene. They found the burglar dead with three bullets in him, a bag containing stolen valuables was near his body.

The new shop had opened just three days before the attempted burglary. Security cameras in the building captured the entire incident, police said.

Police believed the slain burglar was the same person who robbed a gold shop in Hat Yai on Saturday and made off with 50 baht-weight of gold ornaments worth almost one million baht.

Investigators who examined footage from the Rattanamanee gold shop in Khorhong municipaliy, which was robbed on Jan 23, concluded the robber looked very similar to the dead Somsak.

The investigation was continuing.

Security camera footage  captured the fight at Hangphet V.P Jewellery shop in Hat Yai in the early hours of Tuesday. (Photo from Wichayant Boonchote)

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