A man released from jail four months ago has been arrested and charged with stealing a purse containing cash and a gold necklace from a woman passenger at Suvarnhabumi airport.
Natthapol Phanhiran, 34, turned himself in to police at Suvarnabhumi airport on Tuesday after the Samut Prakan Provincial Court approved a warrant for his arrest, Kittipong Kittikachorn, deputy general manager for Operations 1 at Suvarnabhumi, told reporters.
A woman passenger, Airin Bualakhorn. filed a complaint with police at Suvarnabhumi airport on Jan 10 that her purse containing cash and a gold necklace worth at least 30,000 baht had disappeared while she was queuing at a currency exchange booth near the Airport Rail Link station.
Surveillance camera footage showed the woman's purse dropping to the floor in front of the exchange booth. A man wearing black clothes and carrying a red bag was seen kicking the purse away and then picking it up before walking off.
Police identified the man as Natthapol, and obtained court approval to arrest him.
Natthapol admitted to being the man in the CCTV footage. He said he had sold the gold necklace and spent all money in the purse. He was in hiding at a friend’s house and decided to surrender after learning that police were actively hunting for him.
The suspect has a prior criminal record for theft of electronic cards in 2012 and was sentenced to prison after being caught by Chalong Krung police in Lat Krabang district, Bangkok.
He was released from jail on Sept 16 last year.