CHIANG MAI – A gold robber in the latest case in Chiang Mai Province doesn’t seem like the gold robbers in other cases. He lives in a luxury house and is the son-in-law of a millionaire who owns a famous orange orchard in the province.
Thatchaset Chetthawatananukon, 42, is a suspect who robbed a Yaowarat Krungthep gold shop in a retail department store, Fang branch, Chiang Mai province, using a gun. On the evening of November 28, he took four trays of gold jewellery, each weighing 6-15 baht and totaling around 88 items weighing 300 baht (gold jewellery weighing 1 baht = 15.16 grammes). The incident lasted only one minute.
On December 13, police officers of Fang Police Station transported Thatchaset from Fang Police Station to a planned reenactment at the gold store in Lotus Mall. The police then escorted him to a luxury house near the famous orange orchard in Ban Mae Jai, Wiang Subdistrict, Fang District, where he had escaped following the robbery.
Despite wearing a full-body suit during the incident, the suspect wore costly brand-name shoes. So police traced the suspect until he was identified.
The investigators also found that Thatchaset went to Myanmar following the robbery, wearing the same shoes. He brought 300 baht of gold and sold it for a low price of 6 million baht when the true price should have been 9.9 million baht, returning only 1.5 million in cash. He intended to return in January to collect the money that was left.
Pol. Maj. Gen. Thawatchai Phongwiwattanachai, Chiang Mai Provincial Police Commander, and the investigative team obtained a warrant from the Chiang Mai Provincial Court to arrest Thatchaset on December 12.
The officers also searched three other locations in the Fang and Mueang Chiang Mai districts. The motorcycle and pistols involved in the crime were discovered with 1.4 million baht in cash.
Mr. Thatchaset confessed to doing such a crime after trading stocks and bitcoin and having lost a lot of money. Even though he is the son-in-law of a rich man who is the owner of a large orange orchard and luxury houses in Fang District, Chiang Mai, he wanted to find funds to further invest in his personal business.
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