AYUTTHAYA: A lone robber held up a gold shop in a Lotus shopping mall in Sena district and made off with gold worth about 2 million in less than one minute on Friday morning.
A man wearing a black jacket and long trousers with a black crash helmet and white gloves walked up to the Yaowarat M Gold shop counter on the first floor of the mall on Ayutthaya-Sena Road in tambon Bang Nomkho around 11am on Friday.
He pulled out a gun, fired one shot into the shop and yelled, “Robbery’’. The women staff fled.
The robber jumped over the showcase and quickly swept gold necklaces from trays into his shoulder bag, then ran out of the shop and fled on a motorcycle. The entire robbery took less than one minute.
Employees of the shop told police called to the scene that the robber made off with 39 gold necklaces weighing 60 baht in total and worth about 2 million baht.
Employees of a store near the entrance to the mall said the robber placed a PVC pipe wrapped with tape and electric wires with a clock, like a bomb, near the entrance before fleeing.
One employee immediately moved the PVC pipe to an area behind the mall. Police examined it and said it was a fake bomb placed there as a distraction to give the robber more time to escape.
Security camera recordings showed the robber fleeing on a motorcycle along a road at the back of the mall, the Wat Bang Nomkho-Wat Ban Daeng route.
A security camera recording shows the robber sweeping up gold necklaces at Yaowarat M Gold shop inside a Lotus shopping mall in Sena district, Ayutthaya. (Photo: Sunthorn Pongpao)