Thai police on Saturday hand over a Lao gold robbery suspect who fled to Thailand following the alleged theft. --Photo Nongkhai online

Thai police return Lao man following arrest for armed robbery

Thai police on Saturday handed over a Lao national after he fled to Thailand following his alleged theft of gold from a shop in Vientiane.
The man is the main suspect in a case of armed robbery, when he allegedly stole gold weighing 54 baht and worth almost one billion kip at gunpoint.
The suspect was handed over to Lao police at the Nong Khai border crossing.
Police say the man carried out the robbery on the afternoon of June 8, at a shop in Thongsangnang village, Chanthabouly district.
Following the robbery, the owner of the gold shop offered a reward of 100 million kip or 200,000 baht to anyone who provided information leading to the arrest of the culprit and the return of the gold.
The following day, Thai police arrested the suspect after he hired a boat to cross the river into Thailand from Xayaboury province.
Thai police recovered 40 baht weight of gold and 300,000 baht in cash from the man, according to the shop owner.
The suspect has a history of theft due to his addiction to online gaming and the extent of his gambling debts, and was charged with robbing gaming stores on 10 occasions.
He is subsequently believed to have carried out robberies at four jewellery and gold shops.
On January 9, he allegedly stole jewellery worth more than 3 billion kip from a shop in the Morning Market in Vientiane.
The second offence took place on April 15 when he allegedly robbed gold worth at least 10 baht from a shop at Pakxan Wortrade in Pakxan district, Borikhamxay province.
This was followed by the theft of an unspecified amount of gold from a shop at View Mall in Vientiane on May 12, and the most recent theft from a gold shop in Thongsangnang village on June 8.
Prior to the man’s arrest on Friday, Lao police teamed up with Thai police after learning that the suspect had fled to Thailand. He was finally apprehended in a parking lot at a condominium block in Khon Kaen province, Thailand.

By Times Reporters
 (Latest Update June 10, 2023)