Police bring 3 of the
suspects, one with a knife and two in handcuffs, to reenact the crime at the
scene.
Theerarak Suthathiwong
Banglamung police have arrested five family members accused of robbing
conveniences stores around the Eastern Seaboard and Bangkok.
Sriracha residents Somjai Onsamran, 47; Worawat Kuttajomsri, 18; and Sayan
Thaengthong, 32; Roi-et native Nittaya Wongsomsri, 18; and Chusak
Phermsalika, 29, of Chaiyanat were apprehended in three separate arrests
Feb. 5. Police recovered a meter-long knife, 22-caliber handgun, two purses
and a Honda City compact car.
Police said Sayan confessed that all five are family members who have
cooperatively shoplifted from convenience stores in Bangkok, Rayong,
Sriracha, Banglamung and Pattaya for years. Their arrests came after a Jan.
28 robbery and knife attack at a Tesco-Lotus store on Soi Khao Talo.
Sayan reportedly told police his group had successfully hit the Express
store on Jan. 27 and returned the next day to try again. Somjai and Nittaya
entered the store with handbags to fill while Worawat distracted clerks by
pretending to buy beer. One clerk, however, remembered Somjai from the day
before and led workers to try to capture the alleged shoplifters.
Worawat threw a beer bottle at the head of one worker, while Chusak pulled a
knife and injured another, Sayan told police. Sayan then admitted he pulled
a gun to threaten workers while they all escaped into the waiting Honda.
Sayan, however, was known to police, as he had dropped his wallet during an
earlier robbery in Maptaput, Rayong. He, Somjai and Worawut were arrested at
the Phakjaip bungalows in Chonburi. Police then picked up Nittaya at her
house in Bangpra and Chusak in Pathumthani.
