Provincial and local police arrested seven people – five of them underage – for allegedly robbing a string of petrol stations in Banglamung and Sriracha.
Banglamung and Chonburi officers Aug. 16 announced the arrest of Naruebet Suthikaw, 23, Thanatpol Thongtha, 18, four 16-year-olds and a 15-year-old, along with the seizure of a 38-caliber homemade gun, three motorbikes and 30,000 baht cash.
The money was all that was left from four robberies that allegedly netted the motorcycle gang 74,000 baht Aug. 14-15.
Around 3:50 a.m. Aug. 14 the D-Gas station in Sriracha was hit with thieves getting away with 5,000 baht. Then minutes later, the same gang knocked over another gas station, again getting away with 5,000 baht.
Naruebet Suthikaw and Thanatpol Thongtha, along with 5 underage teens, have been arrested for a string of gas station robberies.
The following day, around 3:30 a.m., a gang on motorbikes – suspected to be the same ones as in the Sriracha robberies – robbed a Petronas station of 39,000 baht. About five minutes later, thieves escaped with 25,000 baht from the Esso station, both in Banglamung.
Police said they put out word among gas station operators in order to track down the thieves. The next afternoon they located one of the 16-year-old boys at Naklua’s Chinese cemetery. He ratted out of gang members who were rounded up at various Pattaya-area entertainment venues.
Police said Naruebet was the gang leader and he confessed to targeting gas stations in quiet areas, then sending in minor-age teens to do the robberies.
Proceeds from the robberies were split among members, who blew the cash on motorbike upgrades, playing Internet games and hanging out at entertainment venues.
They all were charged with armed robberies and illegal weapons possession.
