PHUKET — The owner of a guesthouse in Phuket was delighted when police managed to recover valuable and sentimental items stolen by a person close to her — the restaurant manager who was heavily in debt due to online gambling.
On November 14, police from Kamala Police Station in Kathu district, Phuket, announced the arrest of Ms. Chanuphon, 38, a restaurant manager at Daeng Guesthouse in Kamala, Kathu, Phuket. The stolen valuables were found in a package she was sending to her hometown in Nakhon Sawan.
The case began when Ms. Sophia Brussaard, 33, the owner of Daeng Guesthouse, filed a complaint at Kamala Police Station late in the evening of November 10. She submitted photos of the stolen items, including:
- A 2.64-carat diamond ring worth 70,000 baht
- A 2.5-carat diamond ring worth 84,000 baht
- A Rolex Datejust 31 wristwatch worth 578,815 baht
- A Cartier Panthere wristwatch worth 159,000 baht
- A gold ring worth 32,000 baht
- A gold bracelet
- A 0.53 carat diamond ring worth 39,800 baht
- A 0.48-carat diamond ring worth 28,900 baht
- Chanel earrings worth 15,000 baht
All these objects were in a red, round jewelry box that was kept in a cupboard compartment in her guest room. Ms. Sophia last saw the jewelry box on October 12, 2024, and suspected an inside job involving employees of the guest house.
During the investigation, police discovered that only three employees had access to a spare key to the guest house rooms. One of them was Ms. Chanuphon, who was known to have a gambling addiction. After a behavioral investigation, the police suspected her of stealing the valuables. She was summoned for questioning on November 13.
Initially, Ms. Chanuphon denied the allegations, but her phone showed search histories for the prices of luxury watches and diamond rings that matched the stolen items. Confronted with this evidence, she confessed to selling the gold bracelet for 70,000 baht and sending the remaining items to Nakhon Sawan on November 13.
Pol. Col. Somsak Tongklieng, head of the Kamala Police Station, led the investigation team that intercepted the package at the Phuket Post Office and recovered the stolen items, including a Rolex and a Cartier watch, as well as diamond rings and earrings totaling nearly 1 million baht.
Chanuphon admitted to stealing all the items from Ms. Sophia’s room because she was in debt to online gambling. She planned to send the valuables to her boyfriend in Nakhon Sawan. Police charged her with theft and returned the seized items to Ms. Sophia.
Ms. Sophia thanked Kamala police for tracking down the culprit and recovering the stolen valuables. Some of them were heirlooms from her mother and had immense sentimental value beyond the monetary value.
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