Solo female robber strikes gold shop in Sadao, making off with 800000 baht

A 20 year old local woman executed a bold solo robbery, absconding with gold valued at over 800,000 baht from a Lotus Gold Shop in Sadao, Songkhla province. The incident transpired at 5.30pm yesterday.

The store’s CCTV footage showed the woman, identified as Precha, committing the crime single-handedly while brandishing a knife, before making her escape on a Honda GPX drone motorcycle.

Upon examination of the crime scene by the investigative authorities, it was revealed that the culprit had stolen eight gold necklaces, each weighing 3 baht, for a total of 24 baht gold. The employees, all women, were unharmed albeit shaken by the event. The robbery was executed swiftly, taking less than a minute, and the perpetrator was seen wearing a mask to cover her face.

The police followed the escape route of the criminal, discovering the abandoned motorcycle behind Betagro Company, approximately 2 kilometres from the Lotus Sadao. Witnesses in the area reported seeing the motorcycle being abandoned but did not see who was driving it. It is believed that after abandoning the motorcycle, the suspect called for a Grab car to pick her up and drop her off at the Sadao border checkpoint.

The police suspected that the robber would cross the border into Malaysia and coordinated with the Malaysian authorities to check if anyone matching the description had crossed the border. However, at 12.30am today, the investigative team apprehended Precha in a mansion in Hat Yai, Songkhla province.

Upon her arrest, all eight stolen gold necklaces were recovered from under her pillow along with the knife used in the robbery. Precha confessed to the crime, stating that she needed the money to buy a gun to take revenge on her ex-lover and a younger sibling who had defrauded her of 700,000 baht.

Convenient location

She also revealed that she had swapped her mobile phone for the motorcycle used in the crime in Sadao, knowing that the bike was fitted with a GPS. After the robbery, she abandoned the motorcycle for its owner to retrieve and hired a local car to drop her off in Hat Yai.

Precha admitted to acting alone without any accomplices and had not planned the robbery. She was aware that the police were looking for her, as there were checkpoints set up from Sadao to Hat Yai.

Precha chose to rob this particular gold shop because of its convenient location near the bathroom. She apologised for the crime, rationalising that the gold shop was insured. After her arrest, Precha was taken back to Sadao Police Station for further legal proceedings, reported KhaoSod.