SONGKHLA: The van used by a group of five armed men in the robbery of a gold shop in Na Thawi district of this southern province was found abandoned in a rubber plantation about 15 kilometres from the town on Saturday evening, police said.
After robbing the Hangthong Suthada shop in Na Thawi town at about 1.35pm and making off with about 1,000 baht-weight of gold ornaments worth at least 22 million baht, the robbers reportedly fled in a Pattani-registered van with licence plate number 10-1082 along the Na Thawi-Prakop road and then abandoned it inside the rubber plantation, about 300 metres from the road, before escaping in another vehicle.
Forensic and explosive ordnance disposal police were despached to the scene to examine the van, collecting fingerprints and other clues for use in hunting for the robbers.
A red-black Honda Wave motorcycle was also found abandoned near the van. Police believed it had also been used in the robbery.
From the rubber plantation, the robbers might have fled to either Thepha or Sabayoi district or to the three southernmost border provinces, police said.
At about 10am on Saturday, according to police, three men hired the van, driven by Rosali Yosen, to take them to pick up accomplices at Ban Khuan Khuha in tambon Bo Thong of Pattani's Nong Chick district. At the village, the robbers attacked the driver of the van, tied up his hands and feet, and used the vehicle in the gold shop robbery in Songkhla's Na Thawi district.