Police have launched a manhunt for a Cambodian national who robbed a gold shop in a mall in Bang Phli district of Samut Prakan on Sunday morning.
Police say that they have identified the suspect as Ao Yong, a 31-year-old Cambodian migrant worker at a car care service centre in Bang Sao Thong sub-district. Police searched his rented room and found three cherry bombs, a lighter and a belt on his bed.
According to witnesses, a lone robber, wearing a hat, walked into the mall in Bang Phli district, fired a shot into the air from his pistol and headed straight for the gold shop, followed by a security guard using his smart phone to record the incident.
The lone robber then jumped over the display counter and grabbed several gold necklaces before exiting the mall. During his escape, he tried to lob a cherry bomb to distract attention, but it detonated in his hand.
A trail of blood was seen on the floor, leading to the spot where he had parked his motorcycle, which he used to get away from the mall.
Pol Maj-Gen Phumin Singhasut, the provincial police commander, said that the robber got away empty-handed, as all the gold necklaces that he stole from the gold shop ended up on the floor when he was injured by the cherry bomb.
An examination of CCTV systems along the suspected robber’s escape route shows he returned to the car care service centre to change his clothes and drove away in a stolen van. The van was found abandoned in the Bang Pla area. He then hailed a taxi, heading for the Samrong Nua area.
The owner of the car care service told the police that the suspect has never had any problems before, but he disappeared from the centre shortly after reporting to work this morning.
