Antiques Missing From Museum In Chai Nat

[webfact]

Antiques missing from museum
Thanapon Saengthong
The Nation



CHAI NAT: -- Some 61 antiques have gone missing from the Chainatmuni National Museum in Chai Nat's Muang district. Their value is incalculable, according to the museum's chief.

Police suspect the thefts involved insiders because all the items were kept in a locked storage room and there were no signs of any break-ins. Moreover, a computer linked to the CCTV system had been damaged.

"Outsiders would not know that some antiques had been kept in a storage room. An exhibition board was put in front of the door to this locked room to hide it from public view," Chai Nat police chief Maj-General Pawat Prommakrit said yesterday.

The museum's chief Saneh Prakobthong lodged a complaint with police yesterday. She told police she entered the storage room last Saturday and noticed that a pair of 105-cm-long tusks was missing. She then cross-checked all items supposed to be in the storage room.

After two days of examination, it became clear that 61 priceless items were gone.

Pawat inspected the museum himself and vowed to track down the culprits. He said all staff at the museum including a former security guard who resigned in February would be summoned for questioning.


-- The Nation 2013-04-24

[Ricardo]

Since the missing-items are antiques, would this story qualify as 'Old News', perhaps ?

One wishes the authorities well, in their efforts to recover the objects from erm the authorities culprits, and hope to not-see them not-on-display again soon !

[Locationthailand]

So if they can't figure out this is an inside job there is no hope for justice. They knew what to take, they knew about the security system and there was no sign of forced entry. The fish usually stinks from the head down so a good place to start would be with one who has keys!

[itchybum]

Tight security baffles Thai wannabe thieves and public.

Display board pushed in front of the door.

[HarryMilton]

So if they can't figure out this is an inside job there is no hope for justice. They knew what to take, they knew about the security system and there was no sign of forced entry. The fish usually stinks from the head down so a good place to start would be with one who has keys!

They can figure that out, that is exactly what the report says.

[jalansanitwong]

A pair of tusk book ends have incalcuable value ? You can buy that rubbish anywhere in Bangkok. Most of Thailands remaining antiques are in private homes in central Bangkok. The rest were exported by Thai's to collectors and museums in Europe, USA and Japan in the sixties.

The only person who kicked up a fuss was Jim Thompson. Anyone heard from him recently?

Thailand is the only place in the world where you can buy genuine fake antiques.

Try River City...thats a biggee!

[surangw]

check ebay

[bristolgeoff]

long gone by now

[webfact]

UPDATE:
Security guard arrested for allegedly stealing from museum
Thanapon Saengthong
The Nation
Chai Nat



CHAI NAT: -- A security guard at the Chainatmuni National Museum on Wednesday confessed to stealing many precious antiques from his workplace and implicated his former co-worker.

The suspect is one of 12 people working for the museum.

On Monday, Saneh Prakobthong, chief of the museum located here, alerted police that 61 antiques had gone missing from a locked storage room.

Police are going to arrest Amorn Klomkamnerd, the former security guard who emerged as a prime suspect but initially denied any wrongdoing during an earlier interrogation.

His former co-worker, however, has now implicated him.

Amorn, 30, resigned from the museum in February. His house has already been searched, and his computer was seized pending examination. His financial transactions will also be checked.

Police have found records showing that Amorn sent a parcel to Chiang Mai but the contents were unknown.

Saneh said she would request a budget to refurbish the museum.

"We will need a new closed-circuit television system and restricted-admission system for the storage room," she said.

The current CCTV system malfunctioned in November. In February, it was fixed. However, it remains unclear whether it was working at the time of the thefts. The system was damaged and efforts are underway to salvage the old recordings for use as solid evidence against the perpetrators.

-- The Nation 2013-04-25