CityNews – A 44-year-old man has been arrested in connection with three bank robberies in Chiang Mai and Lamphun.
Robbery suspect Pipitthon Fongkruekam with police following his arrest. Photo: Weerasak Panyachod.
Pipitthon Fongkruekam, of Lamphun’s Muang district, was arrested yesterday evening. Police said the former local councillor works as a security guard and merchant.
He is accused of three robberies – at a Bangkok Bank branch at Donjan Big C in November 2013, at a Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Co-operatives branch in Hang Dong on September 29, and at a branch of the Krungthai Bank in Lamphun’s Big C last Sunday.
In the first incident, the robber made off with more than 23,000 baht in cash. On Sunday he escaped with 15,000 baht in cash, and the previous week he made off with 83,000 baht. In each case he told staff that was armed with a gun and/or a bomb in his bag.
Police Colonel Thawatchai Pongwiwatchai said the banks’ CCTV footage and the handwriting on the notes indicated that the same man was responsible for all three robberies.
Pipitthon will be taken back to the banks he allegedly stole from so police can re-enact the crime.