Hunt for a couple who robbed gold shop

Hunt for a couple who robbed gold shop

The picture captured from security camera footage shows the male robber fighting with the gold shop owner in Nong Chang district, Uthai Thani, on Monday night.
The picture captured from security camera footage shows the male robber fighting with the gold shop owner in Nong Chang district, Uthai Thani, on Monday night.

UTHAI THANI: Police are hunting a man and a woman who violently robbed a shop of 2 million baht in gold and injured the proprietor in Nong Chang district on Monday night.

The couple burst into the Thong Thae Mae Tang Kuai gold shop on Thesaban 1 Road in Nong Chang municipality about 7pm. The shop belongs to a brother of the local mayor.

They two robbers threatened the couple who run the gold shop with a crowbar. When shop owner Janyong Noparat, 55, tried to fight them off, the man pounded his head into one of the gold showcases, causing deep cuts. Mr Janyong is a younger brother of Nong Chang mayor Damrong Nopparat. He was treated at a local hospital.

During the fight, the woman robber grabbed gold from showcases and stuffed them into a backpack. The couple then fled the shop.

Eyewitness Sornkrai Rongthong, 38, said he was passing the shop on his motorcycle at the time. He saw the two robbers, who acted like husband and wife, rush into the place. They wore black clothes and woollen hats pulled over their heads and faces. He called for help but the two robbers fled with their booty before anyone arrived.

Sakol Panmek, deputy mayor of Nong Chang, said he was in front of his house, behind the gold shop, and saw the robbers getting into an old white Toyota Vios car without licence plates.

He grabbed his gun and fired a warning shot, but they did not stop and sped off in the car.

Somporn Nopparat, the woman shop owner, said the two robbers threatened her with the crowbar while she was standing in front of the shop, which was about to close. She ran to the rear of the shop while the robbers closed the steel front grid.

She said the couple had made off with about 100 baht-weight of gold necklaces, worth about 2 million baht, from three showcase trays.

Local police said the robbers were likely hiding in Uthai Thani. Their crowbar, which was left behind, was brand new and was being examined for DNA traces. Police also found an empty gold necklace tray left behind the shop, which remained closed on Tuesday.

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