The director (headmaster) of a Sing Buri school is now in police custody as a suspect in the case of the lone of being the lone gunman in a gold shop robbery at the Robinson’s Shopping Centre in Lop Buri province on January 9. Three people, including a two year old boy, were shot and killed, another four were injured as a result of the shooting.

The armed gunman, carrying a 9mm pistol and fitted with a silencer, escaped after his shooting rampage, with gold jewellery valued at 450,000 baht worth of (some media report higher amounts up to 680,000 baht).

The 38 year old suspect has been identified as Prasitthichai Khaokaew, and is currently in custody. Police allege the man has confessed to the crime.

Amnart Wicchayanuwat, secretary-general of the Office of Basic Education Commission, says they will set up a committee to consider dismissal of the school director if he is found guilty of the offences, as charged.

In the days after robbery, the Royal Thai Police issued a shoot-to-kill order and a bounty was offered for information leading to his apprehension. Over the weekend police reported that had been speaking to a suspect over the incident. It has not been confirmed if Prasitthichai Khaokaew was the man who police were questioning over the weekend.

SOURCE: Thai PBS World

Police have arrested a man in conjunction with the Lopburi gold shop shootings on January 9. The man is a 38 years old school headmaster from Sing Buri, the adjoining province to the west of Lop Buri in central Thailand. Police report that he has confessed to the shooting of the customers and staff, resulting in three deaths, including a two year old boy, and four others.

The man’s identity has been reported as Prasitichai Khaokaew in khaosod.co.th.

Police have not confirmed if he is the same man that they were interviewing late last week over the robbery.

The armed man walked into the Aurora gold shop inside the Robinsons Shopping mall on the Phahon Yothin Highway at 8.44pm on January 9, just before closing time. He strode in and started shooting at customers and staff. He then jumped on top of the glass counter, snatched three trays of gold necklaces valued around 450,000 baht, and then shot a security guard dead before fleeing on a Yamaha motorcycle.

The entire incident lasted around a minute.

Police suspected that the gold wasn’t the target of the fatal heist due to the low amount of gold stolen and the brutality of the shootings.

More information about the arrest when it comes to hand.

A recent survey by Suan Dusit Rajabhat University, the Suan Dusit Poll, shows that Thais are more concerned about their safety than ever before, citing the country’s economic woes as the reason.

The poll was conducted from January 15-18 on 1,365 people throughout the Kingdom of varying education levels and occupations. The survey followed a spate of serious crimes in the news, including rapes, robberies, shootings and drug dealing, culminating in the high-profile Aurora gold shop robbery in Lop Buri province where three people died.

On January 9, a man shot and killed three people and injured four others during a gold shop heist in Lop Buri.

Numerous CCTV cameras captured the man’s brief rampage, during which he casually strolled into the shop and shot customers and staff. One of the victims was a two year old boy who was shot in the head while walking past the shop with his mother.

67.6% of those polled say that they’ve become more serious about their personal security over the past year as a result of the economic slump, deteriorating social conditions and low moral standards.

In August the Government revealed that the country’s economy grew at its slowest rate in nearly five years in the second quarter of 2019. It cited slowing exports, a struggling farm sector and US-China trade tensions, saying all had taken their toll on Thailand.

The Government also blamed falling domestic demand and weakening export performance, due in part to the strong baht. The Thai baht was one of Asia’s strongest performing currencies in 2019, which hurt Thai exports and the key tourism sector, which generates more than 20% of the Kingdom’s gross domestic product. To make matters worse, the farming sector is currently in the grip of the worst drought in decades.

When asked what causes risks to their personal security, 53.8% pointed to the poor economy; 24.4% cited “deteriorating social conditions, social disparities and a low standard of living”; 21.3% cited the government’s inability to solve economic problems, forcing people to help themselves; 18.2 percent said it was caused by low public moral standards, and 14.5% cited poor law enforcement.

(Figures are rounded to to the nearest one tenth of a percentage point)

When asked to identify what they feared most, 67.5% pointed to robberies and banditry; 32.7% said the use of violence and weapons such as guns and knives; 25.1% cited the spread of drugs; 21.3% pointed to sex crimes and 15.1% said they fear toxic smog.

SOURCE: Suan Dusit Poll

Whether a slowing economy leads to crime or increases it remains a topic of debate. In 2015, the World Economic Forum published an article titled “Do Recessions Increase Crime?” which quoted American economist Gary Becker’s seminal 1968 work on criminal choices, saying low expectations on returns for legal activity may lead to initial involvement in crime and subsequently to a first encounter with the criminal justice system.

Whether an economic slump inevitably leads increased crime is still up for debate, but the recent poll shows many Thais believe it does.

SOURCE: The Asean Post