Bangkok: Serial thief stole spare keys from condo residents' mailboxes

 

Image: Siam Rath

 

Police at the Sutthisan station in downtown Bangkok announced the arrest of a Thai man who has been stealing property from the rooms of condo residents in the Ratchada/LadPrao area of the capital. 

 

Krissana Darachote's method was to go to condos and look in the mailboxes of residents for spare keys then go to their rooms and steal their possessions. 

 

CCTV and the reports of victims helped nail him.

 

Chief of the Sutthisan police Pol Col Phurit Jintaranan said that his force had received many reports from victims last week. 

 

This resulted in a warrant from the criminal court on the 6th and the arrest of the suspect at the Centric Condominium in Huay Kwang yesterday evening. 

 

He was in possession of brand name bags,  gold jewelry, amulets and cash from multiple thefts.

 

Krissana - described as a student by Siam Rath - said he had run into financial problems. Living in a condo himself he knew of the habit of some people to leave keys in their mailboxes.

 

He admitted to many thefts and said he had never been caught until now.

 

Chief Phurit said that other victims were welcome to come forward and his men could be contacted on 02 2759125, any time.

 

Source: Siam Rath

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2021-01-09

 

- Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you

- Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

So we have another thread where a woman taped her pin number to her ATM card and was surprised that money was withdrawn went the card went missing, now this?

 

Looks like the old adage about one being born every minute might have been an underestimate!

46 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

Krissana Darachote's method was to go to condos and look in the mailboxes of residents for spare keys then go to their rooms and steal their possessions. 

I always thought the spare key was underneath the door mat, or the flowerpot outside the condo door?

This new idea of using the mailbox is fantastic.

How did he manage to open a locked mailbox? Oh, wait a minute...

Wow! Look at all those counterfeit designer handbags he took into custody.

People leave their spare key in their mailbox, seriously? I'm shocked.

 

11 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Krissana Darachote's method was to go to condos and look in the mailboxes of residents for spare keys then go to their rooms and steal their possessions. 

What idiots put their spare keys in the mailbox? I answer myself: Must be the ones that have the mailbox key and the home key at the same ring when they lose it. ????????

a serial killer? yes, but never heard of a serial thief

4 hours ago, Pique Dard said:

a serial killer? yes, but never heard of a serial thief

He must have been caught before stealing cornflakes.

18 hours ago, bluesofa said:

I always thought the spare key was underneath the door mat, or the flowerpot outside the condo door?

This new idea of using the mailbox is fantastic.

How did he manage to open a locked mailbox? Oh, wait a minute...

The easiest way would be to get a master key which is a lot easier than people think as you can buy them on eBay if you know the lock manufacturer... E.g. https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Key-Master-Key-1003P1-For-Mailbox-Outdoor-Iron-Nickeled-/113004306300

 

But if he was an experienced thief then I would imagine it would take him about 5 seconds to pick a mailbox lock.

 

I'm a beginner & it took me about 30 seconds to pick the lock on my Condo front door (Obviously I did this with the door wide open & me inside the condo as I didn't want the security guards seeing me on camera & coming to ask what I was doing), again, lots of resources online (esp Youtube)  if anybody was interested in learning how to. 

 

 

 

Still can't pick the lock on the 2nd Bedroom door though, maybe I should swap it with the one on the Front Door. 

 

 

 

 

The key thing is funny with Thais....when I lived in apartment buildings it was routine for many residents to leave their room key with the security guy when they left for work in the morning, which I thought was odd. When they came home they would trudge up to the security booth and get their key back using their ID. How hard is it to keep your key in your pocket or purse without losing it...oh wait....I once looked inside my GF's purse....it was like a scene from the Matrix.

My son once had a job TIG welding generator turbine blades for Alstom when he was about 18.  The filler rod was very expensive and kept locked up.  One day his boss was out and the front office people couldn't find the spare key.  So my boy picked the cabinet lock.  Easy peasy. 

 

Older boy got locked out of the house one time, so he went into the crawl space under the house and pulled off a big heat/aircon return duct and crawled up into the house.