A 15-year-old boy has been taken into police custody in the northeastern province of Ubon Ratchathani on suspicion of robbing a shopping mall gold shop in Hat Yai, Songkhla province, on Tuesday.
Police said a lone hooded robber dressed in black overalls and brandishing a hammer broke into the shop, smashing display counters and making off with about 503 grams of gold jewellery worth more than 2.4 million baht, before fleeing on a motorcycle.
Investigators reviewed CCTV footage from the shopping mall and along suspected escape routes, eventually locating the motorcycle used in the getaway.
The vehicle was found to belong to a construction worker, enabling police to track down the suspect.
The boy was apprehended at the Ubon Ratchathani bus terminal on Wednesday morning, after Hat Yai investigators discovered that he had left the stolen gold ornaments with a friend before boarding a flight to Don Mueang Airport in Bangkok.
He later travelled by bus to Ubon Ratchathani and told police that he planned to continue his journey to Laos to meet a Laotian friend.
During questioning, the suspect said he had planned the gold shop robbery together with the Laotian friend, whom he had met through online gaming.
Police are now investigating the role of the foreign accomplice and whether the individual was directly involved in the crime.
Hat Yai police have since recovered 30 stolen gold bracelets and necklaces from an apartment on Nipat Songkroh Road in Hat Yai municipality.
The gold was hidden inside a detergent bag and concealed in a woman’s shoulder bag covered by a black T-shirt and placed in a closet.
