A 26-year-old Belgian man has been arrested on charges of stealing cash and valuables from the hotel rooms of three Malaysian tourists in Hat Yai. 

He is also suspected of burglaries in two other southern tourist provinces. Immigration officers, local police and tourist police arrested the man during a raid on a hotel room in Songkhla on Thursday.

The arresting team found 52,000 baht in cash, five mobile phones, two watches, two Malaysian credit cards and other items worth about 200,000 baht in all. The officers believed all of the items were stolen.

The arrest followed complaints from three Malaysian tourists who had been staying at a hotel in downtown Hat Yai. Police discovered that the Belgian suspect was staying at the same hotel at the time. 

The arresting team later received a tip-off from staff at another hotel in Songkhla that the suspect had checked in there.

A check showed the suspect was believed to have stolen cash and valuables from hotel rooms in Krabi and Phuket. He was also found to have overstayed his visa by 63 days.