Three men have been arrested for stealing a safe containing about 20 million baht worth of valuables and cash from a biomolecular therapy centre in Bangkok.
Pairoj Meenut, 52, Thawee Phaholyut, 44, and his son Danusorn, 23, were apprehended separately and about 17 million baht worth of items and cash allegedly stolen from the safe and a pickup truck seized, said Pol Lt Gen Sutthipong Wongpin, commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, during a media briefing on Monday.
The arrests followed a break-in at Biomecular Therapy Center Asia, a facility owned by an aunt of a former Pheu Thai MP, on Rama II Road on the night of June 25. Bang Mot police inspecting the venue found a safe containing assets and cash worth about 20 million baht was stolen from the first floor of the centre. The CCTV hard disk was removed.
Police began the investigation that led to the arrest of the three suspects.
During the interrogation, Mr Pairoj allegedly confessed to having colluded with the other accomplices to steal the safe, which was loaded in a pickup truck. He took the safe to his house in Phitsanulok province, where it was forced open. He then gave some stolen items and cash to the two other suspects before they fled separately.
Mr Pairoj told police he had been a driver of the centre before he was sacked three years ago for firing a shot inside the venue following a quarrel with his nurse girlfriend working there. He knew from his 10-year experience at the centre that cash and valuables were kept in the safe. He said he needed money to pay huge football gambling debts.
Police have pressed theft charges against Mr Pairoj. The two other accomplices were charged with colluding in theft.
Thai media reported that the biomolecular therapy centre was owned by a 89-year-old aunt of former Pheu Thai MP Leelawadee Watcharobol.