Police have arrested two petty thieves who had illegally removed their electronic monitoring (EM) bracelets and gone on a mini crime-spree in Bangkok.
Pol Lt Gen Samran Nualma, the commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Bureau (MPB), said yesterday at a press briefing that police had captured Prawet Lertphungdee and Satawat Chuamwit, on Saturday.
He said his officers also seized items including mobile phones, clothes, helmets, guns and two Honda PCX motorcycles which were the vehicles the two suspects used to commit the crimes.
Mr Prawet, 26, was arrested at his house in Ban Khlong Suan, Phra Samut Chedi district, Samut Prakan while Mr Satawat, 28, was arrested at his residence in Bang Phong Pang area, Yannawa district in Bangkok, said Pol Lt Gen Samran.
He said that there had been a string of thefts in many districts of Bangkok this year. However, nine of the cases suggested a pattern and officers had actively investigated the crimes as a single case.
Evidence from security cameras had identified Mr Prawet and Mr Satawat, and police officers had charged them with theft. They had been released on bail on condition they wore EM bracelets at all times.
Later, officers became suspicious that they were receiving false GPS data from the pair and arrested the pair on Saturday.
At the scene, police found that Mr Prawet was not wearing his EM bracelet and it had been left on a charger at another house in Bang Kho Laem district.
Mr Satawat was wearing his, but the GPS indication on his mobile phone did not correspond with the one attached to his EM bracelet.
Mr Prawet has a history of theft and had served time in jail between 2017 and Jan 26, 2021. He was arrested again on Jan 19, 2022, for a case related to the firearms bill.
Mr Satawat was also released from jail in Jan 2021 and arrested again in January 2022 as an accomplice of Mr Prawet.