Phuket cat burglar robs sleeping couple’s hotel villa

PHUKET: Police have arrested a Phuket cat burglar who crept into a sleeping couple’s hotel villa and stole a mobile phone and about 13,000 baht in cash.

“Thung Taothong, 28, was arrested at his apartment in Soi Yod Saneh in Chalong and charged with robbery,” Karon Police Deputy Superintendent Sophon Borrirak told the Phuket Gazette today.

“We are still searching for his accomplice who acted as a lookout.”

Mr Thung was tracked down to his apartment after CCTV footage from the hotel, which police declined to publicly name, revealed the license plate of the motorbike the two men escaped on.

“The plate number of the motorbike was caught on CCTV and that gave us Mr Thung’s apartment address,” said Lt Col Sophon.

“We then searched his apartment and found the same clothes he was wearing in the CCTV footage, along with the mobile phone, which he had in his pocket.”

CCTV footage from the hotel also showed Mr Thung being helped over the hotel’s perimeter wall by his accomplice and creeping across the hotel courtyard.

“When confronted with the CCTV evidence, Mr Thung confessed to robbing 26-year-old Russian Alekskandr Dakhov, while he and his partner were in bed asleep,” Lt Col Sophon said,

Police said the robber had tried a number of glass patio doors at other villas, before finding Mr Dakhov’s was unlocked.

“He then sneaked quietly into the villa and crawled on his hands and knees into the bedroom. He took the cash and mobile phone from the bedside table,” explained Lt Col Sophon.

A representative from the Karon hotel told police that security would be beefed up following the crime.

“We have talked to the hotel. They plan to in boost security to avoid a recurrence of this kind of crime. I am just thankful that nobody was hurt,” added Lt Col Sophon.

— Kritsada Mueanhawong