Thieves rob French millionaire’s house at gunpoint in northeast Thailand

Four thieves armed with guns and knives broke into a French millionaire’s house in the northeastern province of Chaiyaphum in the early hours of Monday morning and robbed millions of baht’s worth of cash and assets.

The single-story home in the Noen Sa-nga district is jointly owned by 39 year old Waritsara Poobkhonthot and her French husband Stephane Greco, the owner of Rhodior SA, a successful luxury watch company in Switzerland. The couple built the house on their farm last year and live there with their two children.

Waritsara told police that she went to bed with her husband after dinner when they were awoken by four thieves dressed in black breaking into the back of their house through the window at about 2.30am.

The thieves were armed with handguns and sharp knives, said Waritsara. One of the thieves held Stephane’s neck and asked Stephane and Waritsara to remain calm and show them where the cash and valuables were stored. The men were speaking Isaan dialect, said Waritsara.

The armed men ransacked the whole house and took 50,000 baht in cash, 1000 euros, two gold necklaces worth 300,000 baht, and six Swiss watches worth 2,269,900 baht.

After half an hour, the men finally left the property. Waritsara and Stephane – shaken but unharmed – called Noen Sa-nga Police Station at 3.05am. Police went to the scene, about 3 kilometres from Ban Non Pa Chat village, and found the couple standing in front of the house with panicked faces.

This isn’t the first time Stephane’s house has been raided. In an interview with Europa Star magazine, Stephane revealed that the European Central Bank once raided his premises in Switzerland to “find out what [he] was up to.”

Stephane Greco went freelance in 1991 after working at ETA, Rolex, Stern Creations, and Franck Muller.

SOURCE: CH3