A foreign man wanted in connection with a string of break-ins two years ago, including one at the home of Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon, has been arrested in Khon Kaen.
Roberth Alexander Williams, 45, and his girlfriend were on board a Bangkok-Udon Thai passenger bus when police stopped it for a search at a checkpoint on Mittraparb Road in Ban Phai district of Khon Kaen on Saturday morning.
The man was wanted on an arrest warrant issued by the Criminal Court on April 26, 2016 for colluding with accomplices in home break-ins. He and the 37-year-old Thai woman were taken to Ban Phai police station for interrogation.
Williams holds a Colombian passport and an international driving licence stating his place of birth as the United States, but it is not clear if either document is genuine.
The home break-ins took place in April 2016 at housing estates in Bangkok and nearby provinces and in Pattaya, said Pol Maj Gen Thanasak Ritthidetpaiboon, deputy chief of Provincial Police Region 4.
Some houses belonged to high-ranking military officers and one was that of Gen Prawit, also the defence minister.
Officers from the Crime Suppression Division, the Metropolitan Police Bureau, the Tourist Police Bureau and Provincial Police Office 4 took part in the investigation.
“Before the arrest, the arresting team received information that the Colombian national had taken an interprovincial bus heading to the Northeast," said Pol Maj Gen Thanasak. "The officers searched all buses entering the region and finally found the suspect who mingled with other passengers. The suspect was travelling with his girlfriend."
Police said Williams confessed to having colluded with three Colombians to break into houses during the Songkran festival in 2016. Stolen from the military officers' homes were cash and valuables worth more than 2 million baht, according to said Pol Maj Gen Thanasak.
The suspect and his Thai companion were booked at the Ban Phai station in Khon Kaen before being handed over to the Don Muang police station in Bangkok.
Police are now searching for the other members of the burglary gang.