Two of the five men who broke into a house in Pattaya and tied up three Chinese nationals and robbed them of cash, a car and other valuables have been arrested, police said on Thursday.
A team of Pattaya police arrested one man in a room in Muang district of neighbouring Rayong province at around 4.30am on Thursday. He was identified as Chaichana Phimpha, 28, Thai media reported. Officers later apprehended another man identified only as Bank, 27, at his house in South Pattaya, said Pol Col Thanapong Phothi, chief of Pattaya police.
The robbery took place at a two-storey house at the Pattaya Muang Mai housing estate in Bang Lamung district in the early hours of Wednesday, said Pattaya police.
Police and forensic officers responding to a call found three Chinese tourists — two men and one woman — still gripped with fear. They had sustained bruises on their bodies and the house had been ransacked.
The three — Wang Zhijun, 35, Gu Junjie, 37 and Ms Lin Xuerui, 27 – told officers that the men, all wearing woollen hats, entered the house early Wednesday.
One of them pointed a gun at them and the others used electrical wires to tie their hands and feet. After forcing them to show where their valuables were kept, the robbers took 170,000 baht in cash, four mobile phones, one iPad, three watches and a gold ring.
The gang then forced them to make two online money transfers totalling 207,400 baht. They also removed a closed-circuit television camera and took it before fleeing with the victims’ Honda car.
Forensic officers have collected fingerprints in the house. Police investigators have also examined security video from cameras along possible escape routes.