A thief has taken a metal statue of the symbol of the Defence Ministry, the mythical Kotchasri, from its plinth in front of the Defence Technology Institute in Pak Kret district, Nonthaburi.
Gen Kongcheep Tantrawanich, the ministry spokesman, said on Friday that the missing effigy was one of a pair installed in front of the institute building in Muang Thong Thani estate. It is about 25 centimetres tall and 20cm wide.
He was confident the thief would be caught soon, because there were many surveillance cameras in the area.
Somkiat Panchana, a 45-year-old security guard at the institute, discovered the theft on Thursday morning and reported it to Pak Kret police.
The suspect is a man in his 30s seen circling about on a motorcycle in front of the institute late on Wednesday night. He was wearing a white T-shirt and shorts.
The missing Kotchasri statue was new. The mythical animal has a lion's body with an elephant's tusked head and raised trunk.
The Kotchasri sculpture outside the Defence Technology Institute in Pak Kret district, Nonthaburi. It was stolen on Wednesday night. (Photo supplied)