Thai Police launch hunt for four members of pirate gang

[webfact]

Police launch hunt for four members of pirate gang

8 men wanted for killing crew, stealing Bt120 million in foreign currency

BANGKOK: -- A MANHUNT is on for four suspects who allegedly robbed a vessel in the Gulf of Thailand earlier this month, stealing nearly Bt120 million in Malaysian ringgit and Singapore dollars, before shooting all seven crew members who had jumped overboard.

Police have already arrested four suspects, including the former captain Thawee Nitpran, as well as Phan Saengthong, Prasert Songchuay and Samphan Wannarat. They have all been charged with piracy, armed robbery and murder.

This act of piracy was carried out on October 2 when the towboat was travelling from Pattani to an oilrig off the Singapore coast to deliver the foreign exchange.

Suspects identified

Those on the run have been identified as Arkhom Phoonchana, Kittiphit Thipphayakonglas, Kasem Khanparn and Somyos Sudlua, police said. Arkhom was found to have been employed by foreign-exchange firm Sahasab International, which owned some Bt119 million of the total amount stolen.

Police explained that the seven suspects approached the vessel on a speedboat and fired at it.

Arkhom, who was onboard |and feeding insider information |to his accomplices, then jumped into the water and called on his seven fellow crewmen to do the same.

That's when the rest of the suspects boarded the ship, stole the money, shot the seven crewmen in the water, picked up Arkhom and fled.

Getting rid of vessels

The attackers then sank the towboat and later sank their speedboat before being picked up by a second vessel and returning to shore.

They were found to have changed the money and used some of the cash to buy properties.

They had also left some of the cash with their relatives.

As part of the investigation, the police officers said they had visited currency exchange outlets throughout the South and discovered that one had exchanged unusually high sums of foreign currency.

Upon inspection, police found the robbed banknotes as well as footage of Arkhom showing up in security camera footage.


-- The Nation 2013-10-26

[crumpled]

The police certainly seem to have been quick off the mark with this one in comparison to many other crimes they fail on follow up on. sounds too like the criminals have been a bit stupid in spending the money so quickly and exchanging large amounts. They should have had the sense to wait but that money was obviously burning a huge hole in their pockets.

[klubex99]

The police certainly seem to have been quick off the mark with this one in comparison to many other crimes they fail on follow up on. sounds too like the criminals have been a bit stupid in spending the money so quickly and exchanging large amounts. They should have had the sense to wait but that money was obviously burning a huge hole in their pockets.

I can't even begin to think why the police are so interested and motivated in this particular case.... hmmmmmm

[SOTIRIOS]

....sounds like they were set up......

[Riley'sLife]

Why would a towboat with 120 Million THB, in Ringgit and Sing Dollars, be sailing out of Pattani heading to an oil rig off the coast of Singapore?

[samjaidee]

"That's when the rest of the suspects boarded the ship, stole the money, shot the seven crewmen in the water, picked up Arkhom and fled.

Getting rid of vessels - This not a sentence. It is a superfluous jumble of words that serves no purpose in the article.

The attackers then sank the towboat and later sank their speedboat before being picked up by a second vessel and returning to shore."

Now, that's clever. They were able to sink the towboat after they fled. The Nation really should employ a sub-editor who is able to do his/her job properly.

[NomadJoe]

Why would a towboat with 120 Million THB, in Ringgit and Sing Dollars, be sailing out of Pattani heading to an oil rig off the coast of Singapore?

Was wondering that myself. More likely this story is about drug smugglers turning on themselves and then one side paying the police to sort it out for them.

[Bagwan]

I'm surprised that the robbers didn't kill the inside man as well. Dead men tell no tales.

[MMarlow]

"That's when the rest of the suspects boarded the ship, stole the money, shot the seven crewmen in the water, picked up Arkhom and fled.

Getting rid of vessels - This not a sentence. It is a superfluous jumble of words that serves no purpose in the article.

The attackers then sank the towboat and later sank their speedboat before being picked up by a second vessel and returning to shore."

Now, that's clever. They were able to sink the towboat after they fled. The Nation really should employ a sub-editor who is able to do his/her job properly.

"Getting rid of vessels" is a sub-heading between paragraphs as is "Suspects identified" and they both serve their purpose in the article.

The rest of the report is perfectly clear with the description of the attack and the escape, it's you that's not so clever. As long as The Nation does not employ you they'll be ok.

[Mampara]

"That's when the rest of the suspects boarded the ship, stole the money, shot the seven crewmen in the water, picked up Arkhom and fled.

Getting rid of vessels - This not a sentence. It is a superfluous jumble of words that serves no purpose in the article.

The attackers then sank the towboat and later sank their speedboat before being picked up by a second vessel and returning to shore."

Now, that's clever. They were able to sink the towboat after they fled. The Nation really should employ a sub-editor who is able to do his/her job properly.

Now thats really clever, picking and criticizing on the mistakes that are really very obvious to everyone, instead of taking the article in the spirit that it was given.

[Bluespunk]

Why would a towboat with 120 Million THB, in Ringgit and Sing Dollars, be sailing out of Pattani heading to an oil rig off the coast of Singapore?

Very good point.

[ThaiFelix]

So reading this article, although not stated 100%, it appears no-one survived the attack, especially as they also sunk the towboat. There are no eyewitnesses except the bad guys. So where did all this detailed info come from? Arhom, who was in the cctv footage is still on the run, so not from him? Even if one of the other pirates spilled the beans how did they find him in the first place? Maybe the previous captain was suspected?? There is something missing here? What do you think?

[Loles]

This story is rather doubtful.

[Loles]

But that's sure the police would like share ..................

[Loles]

............. and not a small part share.

[surangw]

could be they did pay off the correct persons

[msealey]

Ahhaaaaaa Thailand! Swashbuckling adventures on the high seas!

[noitom]

Why would a towboat with 120 Million THB, in Ringgit and Sing Dollars, be sailing out of Pattani heading to an oil rig off the coast of Singapore?

Inside job. Thai coast guard looks like it should be investigated. Maybe the fx fence ratted them out. It seems fairly well planned for Thais. It is very surprising that Thais could pull off a heist requiring this much planning and operations.

[Tchooptip]

The bastards they coldly shoot the swimming sailors in the water, horrific! RIP poor men.