Ex-local leader among 3 suspects arrested in Ayutthaya gold shop robbery

AYUTTHAYA: All three men allegedly involved in the 2-million-baht holdup of a gold shop at a mall in Sena district were arrested separately overnight, one of them was a former local politician.

Investigators from the Provincial Police Region 1 and Ayutthaya police first apprehended two of the three suspects in Sena around 8.45pm on Friday.  The third suspect, who staged the robbery, was later in the early hours of Saturday, said a police source.

The suspect who was a former local politician had been questioned by police on his alleged involvement in illicit drugs in 2018, according to an initial investigation.

The names of the suspects were not yet disclosed.

The robbery took place at Yaowarat M Gold shop at Lotus’s shopping mall in Sena around 11am on Nov 4. A lone robber jumped over the showcase and quickly swept gold necklaces from trays into his shoulder bag. He then ran out of the shop and fled on a motorcycle. The entire robbery took less than one minute. 

Pol Maj Gen Pheeraphong Wongsamarn, deputy chief of the Provincial Police Region 1, said police would search four locations in the district on Saturday to find evidence linked to the robbery. 

The stolen gold - 39 gold necklaces weighing 59 baht – was being retrieved as the suspects had sold them in areas outside Ayutthaya, he added.

Details of the robbery and the arrest of the suspects would be provided during a press briefing on Saturday.