Austrian man arrested for cannabis theft in Phuket
Viral CCTV footage helps track down foerign thief
Police arrested an Austrian man for stealing cannabis from a shop in Phuket on Sunday, May 26, after the shop owner took to social media to report the incident.
The shop owner, Chatchai Tanamas, posted pictures and CCTV footage of the theft on his Facebook account on Monday, May 27, one day after the incident. He urged netizens to help identify the foreign suspects and offered a reward of 5,000 baht to anyone who could provide information leading to their whereabouts.
According to Chatchai, a group of six foreigners arrived at his store at around 11pm in a taxi. They asked staff about various cannabis products and made two purchases totalling around 1,000 baht.
Despite the apparent legitimacy of the visit, Chatchai later discovered that some cannabis products were missing. Upon reviewing CCTV footage, he suspected some members of the group had stolen from the shop.
He identified one man in particular, wearing a black basketball tank top, as the primary suspect. CCTV footage reportedly showed the man taking a product from the counter while staff were distracted by his companions.
The suspect allegedly handed the stolen item to an accomplice, who helped conceal it. While Chatchai acknowledged that some members of the group might have been unaware of the theft, he believed at least two of them conspired to commit the crime.
Chatchai stated that the financial loss was minimal, but he pursued the matter to teach the culprits a lesson and to deter similar actions in the future.
On Wednesday, May 29, officers from Wichit Police Station announced via their official Facebook page that the suspect had been apprehended. He was confirmed to be an Austrian national, though his name has not been disclosed.
From the images released by the police, only one foreigner was identified as the suspect. He was seen wearing the same black tank top and was positioned closest to the security camera in the footage.
The report did not include specific legal details, but under Section 335 of Thailand’s Criminal Law the suspect could face imprisonment of one to five years and a fine ranging from 20,000 to 100,000 baht for committing theft at night.
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