Patong CCTV nabs Phuket gold thief

PHUKET: As the Patong Safety Zone and its mass of CCTV cameras continue to be networked, Phuket Police on Thursday arrested a teenage man for stealing a gold necklace worth about 25,000 baht after the license plate on his getaway motorbike was caught on a shop camera.

Patong Police officers led by Lt Col Somsak Thongglieng and Sub Lt Chusak Tassanaphum yesterday brought Jakklit Jantanon, a 19-year-old local resident of Patong, to re-enact the crime, staged at the Sakuna gold shop on Sainamyen Road.

Col Somsak told the press he received a report from 25-year-old sales assistant Sudaporn Saiklieng at about 7pm on Thursday.

“A teenage man walked into the shop and pretended that he was interested in buying a gold necklace. Miss Sudaporn, who works for the shop, took out a couple of necklaces for him to choose from,” Col Somsak explained.

“Then Mr Jakklit told Miss Sudaporn that he wanted to put it on to check whether the necklace was too long or too short. Once the necklace was on, he ran out of the shop and jumped on his black Honda Wave motorcycle.

“He sped off toward Hasip Pee [50 Year] Road,” he added.

Luckily for the gold shop owner, the license plate number on the motorcycle was caught on one of the gold shop’s CCTV cameras, leading police to Mr Jakklit’s registered address.

“It took us only two hours to find him. We checked the registration number on his bike and found the address. So we went to the address in the registration details and found him at his home,” Col Somsak explained.

“He still had the gold necklace, that was worth about 25,000 baht,” he added.

— Kritsada Muenhawong