|
Wednesday, March 1, 2000
Masked men rob grocery store
PHUKET: Three robbers, all wearing ghost masks, robbed a grocery
store off Chao Fa Nai Rd near Suanluang Park last night, taking
67,000 baht in cash and gold jewelry belonging to the owner and
his family.
Pol Maj Winai Kongkaew of the Phuket Town Police Station said
that Witoon Pinta, 35, the owner of the grocery store in a camp
for construction workers building Moo Baan Anuphas Manorom, was
in the back room when he heard a noise as if something heavy had
fallen onto the floor in the front of his store.
He went to see what happened and found his 20-year-old wife, Sangdao,
who is six months pregnant, had passed out and was lying on the
floor. Standing there were the three masked men, two of them brandishing
pistols.
One of the robbers held Witoon at gunpoint and took him inside
while the others searched for valuables. They stole about 5,000
baht in cash and around 62,000 baht worth of gold necklaces and
bracelets.
“After we received the report we went there with about 30
police officers from Phuket Town. We tried to close all the entries
and exits, but the problem is that the camp is in a wide-open
area, behind Suanluang Park.”
The police found one of the masks and Sangdao’s mobile phone
in the park, but the robbers eluded them.
The police say the robbers were, from their accents, southern
Thais. They also suspect that they are workers living in the camp,
which is why they wore masks to avoid being identified by others
living there.
The robbers also seemed to know when was the best time to hit
the store – after construction workers had received their
monthly wages and had paid their bills in the store, but before
K Witoon had had a chance to bank the money.
|