Pattaya police chief, Pol. Col. Sukthat Pumpunmuang announced a 100,000 baht reward has been offered for information leading to arrest of the man captured on closed-circuit television cameras fleeing on a Yamaha motorbike. Police believe he is the person that made off with 8.8-million baht in the armed robbery of a Siam Commercial Bank armored car in Pattaya. Police are now also focusing on the possibility that the crime may have been an “inside job”.
Police probe possible ‘inside job’ in hunt for 8.8-million baht SCB armored car thief
Police pursuing the 8.8-million-baht robbery of a Siam Commercial Bank armored car in Pattaya have trained their sites on employees of the bank’s cash-delivery service, investigating whether the heist was an inside job.
Investigators on April 9 searched the homes of Siam Administrative Management Co (SAMCO) drivers Methakorn Supadee, 26, and Jeerasak Seeladlao, 28, and questioned the pair in charge of the van robbed April 7 outside SCB’s Beach Road South Pattaya branch.
Pattaya police chief, Pol. Col. Sukthat Pumpunmuang announced a 100,000 baht reward has been offered for information leading to arrest of the man captured on closed-circuit television cameras fleeing on a Yamaha motorbike. Police believe he is the person that made off with 8.8-million baht in the armed robbery of a Siam Commercial Bank armored car in Pattaya. Police are now also focusing on the possibility that the crime may have been an “inside job”.
Pattaya police chief, Pol. Col. Sukthat Pumpunmuang said officers found nothing related to the armed robbery in Methakorn’s apartment or in Jeerasak’s house, both in Pattaya.
Officers collected DNA samples from both men to compare with that extracted from a cash bag found in a Banglamung field. Police have determined the bag, labelled UPC 2250, was the one that contained the 8.8 million baht stolen in the robbery.
Investigators are still looking for clues to identify a man captured on closed-circuit television cameras fleeing on a Yamaha motorbike with the nearly 9 million baht in cash.
Drivers Methakorn Supadee and Jeerasak Seeladlao are being questioned for possible links to the robbery – but so far no evidence has been found.
A 100,000 baht reward has been offered for information leading to arrest of the culprits. Chonburi police commander Maj. Gen. Amphon Buarubporn also said leaflets showing CCTV photos of suspect have been distributed and extra manpower deployed to find the thief.
A single robber – described as a thin Thai man age 25-35 –snatched the cash from the two SAMCO employees while they were taking money from the bank branch near Walking Street to their van. The thief fired a shot into the air and another into the back of the armored vehicle. Methakorn admitted that he dropped the bag out of fright. He also left the key in the ignition because a spare had broken.
Investigators are looking for clues to identify a man captured on closed-circuit television cameras fleeing on a Yamaha motorbike with the cash.
Jeerasak, meanwhile, fled into an adjacent retail store.
Both men told police they were not allowed by SAMCO to carry guns for self-protection in Pattaya.
In the East, police were told, SAMCO operates 12 cash vans and only long-distance haulers are armed.
Police put in a request that officers temporarily be assigned to protect SAMCO vans, but the company has not responded.
