A NAKHON Ratchasima City (Korat) police team today (March 19) found a 250-kilogramme safe stolen from a luxury condo belonging to a popular food influence hidden in a house and arrested two suspects with one of them being the building’s technician, Naewna newspaper said.
Ms. Pannarai Khemmee, 33, or Mod Oil, was distressed at the theft of her big, heavy safe that held several high-value items, including two 10-baht gold bars, two five-baht gold bars, and five one-baht gold bars, totalling 35 baht weight (approximately 533.54 grammes). Other items inside the safe included a four-baht “Luang Pho Ruay” bracelet in a one-baht gold frame, valued at approximately 100,000 baht, and a Luang Pho Koon amulet in a gold frame, valued at approximately 10,000 baht. The total estimated loss is over 3 million baht.
Investigation revealed that Mr. Panya (surname withheld), the condominium building’s technician, had observed the victim’s activities on social media, then together with his friend Mr. Phisorn, planned the crime.
Panya used his expertise as a technician to disable the CCTV system on March 8 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. He then used a stolen spare key that the owner had left with the building management to enter her unit after which the two of them wheeled the safe down the condo building, loaded it onto a waiting pickup truck, and hid it in this house in Rungnirun 6 Village, which belongs to an acquaintance and is unoccupied, before drilling it.
Pannarai expressed relief at the police swiftly finding her safe, but is also deeply concerned about recovery of her valuables because it has already been damaged.
She added that she suspected the building’s maintenance workers from the start, because she always used their service for repairs and cleaning air-conditioners and not outsiders.
She added that she had mistakenly suspected the head maintenance worker and apologised for this error.
The damaged safe cannot yet be opened to check if any valuables remain within, police said.
Initially the two suspects were charged with jointly committing burglary and are being questioned to find any additional accomplices and recover as much of the stolen valuables as possible.
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Top and Front Page – Police working on this case with an image of Ms. Pannarai Khemmee inset.
Insert – The house where the stolen safe was found. All photos – Naewna
Earlier report:
250-kg safe holding 3m baht valuables stolen from influencer’s condo
