A Chinese man suspected of buying communication devices used in a botched gun shop robbery in Bangkok on Friday is set to be repatriated to his hometown, police said Sunday.
Pol Col Sanchai Chokkayaikij, chief of Phuket Immigration Office, said immigration police are in the process of revoking a visa issued to Su Su, 29, following his arrest on Saturday.
The suspect's visa expires in August, police said.
Mr Su Su was a sixth suspect in the robbery heist in Bangkok on Friday who was arrested on Saturday night in Phuket on suspicion of buying communications devices used in the robbery, police said.
At 11am on Friday, at least five men carrying BB guns and knives attempted to rob the Interarms gun shop in the Wang Burapha area on Charoen Krung Road in Phra Nakhon district in Bangkok.
Four men identified as Chinese entered the shop with their faces covered by helmets. They pulled out BB guns and demanded the shop staff give them guns.
As the robbers tried to make their getaway on two motorcycles, a police officer near the scene heard a commotion and fired at them after they pointed their BB guns at him.
The shots killed Wu Xingjun, 40, and injured Sun Junwei, 27, Li Kunpeng, 26, and Ma Geng, 34.
Pol Maj Gen Theerapol Thipcharoen, the Phuket Provincial Police chief, said investigators who initially interviewed Mr Su Su said the suspect confessed he bought a telephone SIM card for one of the suspects in the robbery.
But Mr Su Su denied being involved in the botched robbery, Pol Maj Gen Theerapol said.
An investigator source said Mr Su Su told him he has bought many SIM cards from several telephone service providers for tourist companies to distribute to Chinese tourists who come to Thailand.
Buying lots of SIM cards at one time without user registration poses a threat to national security, Pol Maj Gen Theerapol said.
It is too soon to establish whether Mr Su Su was involved in the robbery, he said, adding that immigration police will interrogate the suspect once he arrives in Bangkok.
Mr Su Su entered Thailand on May 30, 2015. He applied for a visa to operate a business in the country until Aug 27, 2016, police said.
Mr Su Su worked for a tourist company in China and moved to Thailand to work as a Thai-Chinese Mandarin interpreter in Bangkok. He then worked for a real estate company in Phuket's Thalang district.
Meanwhile, Samran Rat police took Zheng Yang on Sunday to four spots near the gun shop to re-enact the crime. Mr Zheng was allegedly the mastermind of the robbery.
Mr Zheng was caught on Saturday morning by railway police at Nakhon Sawan railway station in a sleeping carriage on a train going from Bangkok to Chiang Mai.