Three Mongolian nationals seen on security camera footage pickpocketing travellers at Suvarnabhumi airport two weeks ago were arrested when they returned to Thailand to steal again.
The trio, two men and a woman, were apprehended at the airport after arriving back in on Monday evening, Pol Lt Gen Surachate Hakparn, commissioner of the Immigration Bureau, told a media briefing on Wednesday night.
Khishigbata Bold, 40, Turmunkh Burengargal, 41, and Ms Ulzibayar Baterdene, 35, were detained on arrest warrants issued by the Samut Prakan provincial court on March 13 for collusion in theft.
They were carrying foreign currency worth more than 200,000 baht -- US$8,665, €3,650, 900,000 yen, 1,355 Argentinian pesos, 400,000 dong and A$500.
German tourist Voker Willi Mauss, 59, filed a complaint with police at Suvarnabhumi airport police station on March 8 that his wallet went missing shortly after he arrived at the airport. He said he went to a currency exchange booth at the airport and then queued up for a taxi. As he was about to get in a cab he realised his wallet, containing about €300, was gone.
Airport security camera footage showed three men and a woman following the German from Gate 3 on the first floor of the passenger terminal to the airport taxi area. The woman was seen pickpocketing the victim's wallet.
She and the other suspects then walked to the Airport Rail Link station, where one of them stole a wallet holding A$500 from Australian tourist Michael Stuart Williams.
The gang later took the Airport Rail Link train to Phaya Thai station, where they changed to a BTS skytrain.
Police investigators found that the gang had also stolen valuables from passengers boarding BTS trains, said Pol Lt Gen Surachate.
The suspects were all Mongolian nationals. The gang worked systematically, dividing tasks among its members with the woman doing the pickpocketing and then passing stolen wallets and other items to other members. Gang leader Burengargal chose the targets.
By then, the gang had left the country. However, three of them arrived back in Thailand on the evening of March 18 and were promptly arrested by police investigators and airport security staff. They were handed over to Suvarnabhumi airport police for legal action.
A chart displays the arrest of the three Mongolian pickpockets at a news conference on Wednesday night. (Photo by Sutthiwit Chayutworakan)