Man arrested for theft of hundred-year-old royal photographs during a house fire

Yesterday, July 9, police in Bangkok arrested Nava Hongsakul, the 36-year-old driver for the CEO of Belink Media, Krisana Thanomsab. His arrest is in connection to the theft of four antique royal photos during a house fire at his employer's mansion in May.

Hongsakul was caught while driving a luxury van in front of the Royal Thai Police headquarters in the city's Pathumwan district at 2pm. He had begun working as a driver for Krisana in 2022. Within a year, the native of Samut Prakan had easy access to every area of his boss's Udomsuk Road mansion.

On May 4, a fire started in the mansion's electrical power control room, leading to the shutdown of the security cameras. Amid the chaos, Hongsakul secretly re-entered the evacuated property and stole four 120-year-old royal pictures, all bearing King Rama V's images. He then acted as though everything was normal and carried out his regular duties.

When the fire was put out, Krisana realized the precious photos, marked with royal signatures and considered a family heirloom, were missing. He quickly reported them missing to the police.

Investigations led the police to find out that the photos had been bought by collectors from different provinces including Chon Buri, Nakhon Pathom, and Nonthaburi for a total of 100,000 baht. Detective reports later confirmed that Hongsakul had sold the photos online.

"The accused confessed to selling the priceless photos online," Police Major General Theeradet Thumsuthee of the Metropolitan Police Bureau confirmed. The police also learned of Hongsakul’s previous criminal record related to facilitating gambling activities.

File photo for reference only

-- 2024-07-10

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