The fourth region of the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) has mobilised troops and police in the hunt for a group of armed men who robbed a gold shop in a shopping mall in Su-Ngai Kolok district of Narathiwat province on Sunday night.
One army officer, who happened to be in the mall as the robbery took place, was shot and injured as he tried to intervene.
Maj-Gen Winthai Suvaree, spokesman for the army, said today that the robbers appeared to have planned the robbery carefully, as they had stolen two pickup trucks from villagers and used them to travel to the mall and in their escape after the heist.
The robbers also scattered spikes along their escape route and placed a LPG tank on the road, to deter a chase by security forces, he added.
According to the ISRA news agency, based on footage from CCTV, all the robbers dressed in black, covered their faces with masks and wore hats. Some of them rushed out of their vehicle to detain four staff and security guards at the entrance to the mall and forced them into the car park.
In one image, seven armed robbers are seen in the mall, with one of them seen talking with a group of shoppers. It was reported later by a shopper that they were told to remain calm and quiet so they would not get hurt.
In another image, four robbers are seen jumping over the gold shop’s counter, smashing the display windows and sweeping the shelves clean of gold ornaments, before escaping to the waiting trucks.
Winthai did not elaborate on whether the robbers are members of an insurgent group active in Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala and parts of Songkhla provinces but, according to the ISRA news agency, several similar incidents have occurred in the past several years and they have been linked to the insurgents.
They include:
· August 24, 2019. Armed robbers used a rented van to travel to Na Thavee district of Songkhla to rob the Suthada gold shop of gold ornaments worth 85 million baht. Two of the robbers were identified as members of an insurgent group wanted by the police.
· March 14, 2011. About nine raiders robbed the Liang Ar gold shop in Su-Ngai Kolok district of Narathiwat province of about 10.3kg in gold ornaments. The gold shop-owner and his brother, as well as a security guard, were shot dead by the robbers. Three other people were also injured. The guns they used had been stolen from an army outpost, which was attacked by insurgents in January of the same year.
· July 19, 2009. Two armed men robbed the Thai Pongdee gold shop in Rue So district of Narathiwat. The gold shop owner was shot dead. The two robbers were later identified as members of an insurgent group.
· May 30, 2013. About ten armed men robbed an armoured truck of the Kasikorn Bank in Mayo district of Pattani. One robber was shot dead by the guards and a guard was also killed. Some of the robbers were linked to an insurgent group which stole a pickup truck in Panareh district.
