Armed robbers stole five million baht from the crew of an armoured truck as they were loading banknotes into an ATM in Chon Buri’s Muang district yesterday.
Pol Col Surapong Thaiprasert, superintendent at Chon Buri provincial police station, said at least five armed assailants had robbed an armoured truck belonging to Samco Co Ltd.
Samco was delivering banknotes to an ATM in front of Tesco Lotus Express in Muang district.
The driver, Chamlong Duangkeaw, 42, and guards Taweep Sukmuang, 24, and Phong-amorn Khamphukeaw, 23, were delivering five bags containing banknotes when they were robbed.
Mr Phong-amorn told police investigators when he and Mr Taweep were unlocking the back door of the truck to remove the bags, three men pointed guns at their heads, and forced them to lie face down on the ground.
The robbers moved two bags to a waiting pickup truck and escaped on Chon Buri-Ban Bung road. As they fled the scene, the robbers picked up another man sitting nearby who had been posing as a lottery vendor.
The man left spikes on the road to hinder any attempt by authorities to catch them, police said.
After examining CCTV footage, investigators said the licence plate on the robbers' getaway vehicle was fake.
Police said they believe the robbers are the same people who committed an armed robbery at a Tesco Lotus in Chachoengsao’s Bang Pakong district.
The gang from that robbery stole 1.6 million baht from an armoured truck taking cash to an ATM at the Tesco supercentre.
Meanwhile, thieves broke into a Bangkok Bank ATM in Trang’s Sikao district and stole four million baht in cash on Monday.
Pol Maj Thanachart Boonpho, deputy superintendent of Trang provincial police station said officials were only alerted to the ATM robbery in front of Sritrang Argo Public Company Limited on Trang-Sikao Road on Wednesday morning. Police investigators inspected the scene on Thursday.