Men cleared of gold shop robbery
PHUKET CITY: The two suspects wanted for the January 27 robbery of the Thongroj gold shop in Dowroong Villa, on Chao Fa East Rd, have been cleared by police after they turned themselves in to proclaim their innocence.
Police on January 30 released sketches of the two men as they had visited the gold shop earlier in the week.
Pol Maj Sompong Boonrat, Deputy Inspector at Phuket City Police Station, said that police have checked the two men’s alibis and found them to be watertight. “The people in the sketches we released are the wrong people. We have investigated where they were at the time of the robbery and they could not have done it; they are innocent,” Maj Sompong said.
A 300,000-baht reward was offered for information leading to the arrest of the armed robber, who made off with gold jewelry worth more than a million baht.
“We have warned all gold shops in Phuket and in major cities in the South to be on the lookout for any gold they suspect may be stolen. We have also set up checkpoints to catch the robber if he is still in Phuket,” Maj Sompong said.
“We think that he is not from this area, and he may well be from Patthalung or Nakorn Sri Thammarat,” Maj Sompong added, without specifying what led police to this conclusion.
