An armed man in food delivery clothing who robbed a gold shop in a mall in Pak Chong district of Nakhon Ratchasima on Wednesday and shot the owner is reported to be a local policeman.
The robber made off with 126 baht weight of gold jewellery worth about 3.5 million baht.
Pak Chong police and investigators from Provincial Police Region 3 later arrested Pol Cpl Anucha Boon-arak, 25, at his house in tambon Khanong Phra of the same district, Thai media reported on Friday.
Pol Cpl Anucha is based at Pak Chong police station.
During questioning, he allegedly admitted to having robbed the shop and showed the arresting officers where he had hidden the gold.
He was apprehended after police investigators examined footage from security cameras in the Big C shopping mall, the reports said.
Pol Col Manop Phutchong, superintendent of Pak Chong station, said on Friday that investigators realised the robber looked much like Pol Cpl Anucha, and even walked like him.
Efforts to contact the man were unsuccessful, so they tracked him down and arrested him.
About 5pm on Wednesday, a man wearing a pink food delivery outfit used a 9mm pistol to threaten staff of the Yaowarat gold shop at Big C shopping mall’s Pak Chong branch, and made off with126 baht weight of gold necklaces.
Shop owner Ditsawat Arsaitham, 39, was in the shop and resisted the robber, and was shot through the left arm. The bullet entered his back, inflicting a serious wound. The robber fled on a motorcycle.
Pol Lt Gen Phanurat Lakboon, commander of the Provincial Police Region 3, right, in a black jacket, is briefed by investigators at the robbed gold shop inside Big C shopping mall in Pak Chong district, Nakhon Ratchasima, on Wednesday evening. (Photo: Provincial Police Region 3 Facebook page)