Pair arrested in Phuket for robbery, rape

PHUKET: Tung Tong Police yesterday arrested two members of a gang allegedly responsible for a string of robberies in Patong and one brutal rape in Kathu.

Police presented 30-year-old Kathu resident Manat Prabpai at a press conference at Tung Tong Police Station along with Adisak ‘Oom’ Rakkhanam, who was arrested yesterday while trying to escape from police after allegedly committing several armed robberies in Patong.

Police said that at about 6pm on Wednesday, Mr Manat broke into a Kathu home where four young women were staying. Wearing a full-face motorbike helmet, he raped two of them at knifepoint and threatened to kill the others if they tried to intervene.

The attack ended when the boyfriend of one of the girls returned home and Mr Manat fled on a motorbike with his girlfriend Anongnart Teeppan, who was waiting for him outside while the rapes took place.

Ms Anongnart remains at-large.

Mr Manat also confessed to stealing a laptop computer, mobile phone, watch and cash from a British national at 4:30am on June 9.

He said he and his girlfriend had conspired to rob foreign tourists ‘many times’.

Ms Anongnart would go back to the tourists’ hotel rooms for sex, then leave the door open so Mr Manat could come in and steal their valuables.

Police recovered a wallet, gold jewelry and other valuables. They are now investigating to try and return the items to their rightful owners.

Mr Manat will soon be returning to a place he knows very well: prison.

He was recently released after serving a sentence for murder. That crime was also committed in Tung Tong Police District.

— Atchaa Khamlo