Police Arrest Two Bot Robbers

[george]

Police arrest two BOT robbers

BANGKOK: -– Police on Friday night apprehended a Bank of Thailand (BOT) employee who confessed to have stolen banknotes, worth three million baht (about US$72,500), from the central bank and his friend at a hotel room on the outskirts of Bangkok.

Speaking at a joint press conference today, Pol. Lt. Gen. Pansiri Prapawat, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, and Mr. Senisiri Siriwatanakul, the Drector of the BOT’s security unit, said police arrested the 35-year-old BOT's employee, Manamethi Ratanavilaivit, and his friend, Kiatkampol Yodyiamkrae, 25, from the northeastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima at the hotel room in Minburi district.

The arrests came after police identified Manamethi from closed circuit video footage of the central bank's vault room during the theft.

Manamethi works at the unit, but has been absent from work since 29 September.

Police also seized 240,000 baht in 1,000 notes, three bank account books, two ecstasy pills and one gram of cocaine in their possession, said Pol.

Lt. Gen. Pansiri.

Mr. Manamethi said during the police interrogation that he had stolen the money from the vault room in the early morning of 29 September, hid the money in a paper box and then kept in his personal locker at the BOT.

He then started taking the money out in small bundles from between 100,000 to 200,000 baht each time until all the stolen money was taken out of the central bank.

Mr. Kiatkampol and another friend, identified as Thaput Yospoltassa who is still at large, opened two accounts at two banks and deposited the money in the accounts.

They also applied for an ATM card so that they could withdraw the money.

So far more than 100,000 baht has been withdrawn and spent on gambling, while another slightly over 100,000 baht has been paid to clear debts on a credit card.

About 2,38 million baht is now left on the two bank accounts.

Pol. Lt. Gen. Pansiri said police were investigating whether there were any more collaborators in the robbery besides Mr. Thaput.

Mr. Manamethi said he had planned for the robbery several days before launching the theft.

He said the reason that he did was because he and his friends wanted to clear off their heavy debts from soccer gambling and credit cards.

They will face the maximum penalty of a 20-year jail term, according to Pol. Lt. Pansiri.

--TNA 2004-10-16

[Doi Thong]

How smart ahh? To open accounts of their names and put there more than 2 million baht just few days after theft. Thai police is so lucky with criminals like that.

[sriracha john]

while another slightly over 100,000 baht has been paid to clear debts on a credit card.

LOL, another sign of a amateur.... He was more concerned about making sure his credit rating remained in good standing than getting caught with robbing 3 million baht.