Thief dressed as food delivery rider steals 3.4m baht payroll

CHONBURI POLICE are chasing a thief dressed as a food delivery rider who stole 3.4 million baht payroll after picking a fight with one of two employees of a company who had just withdrawn the cash to pay wages, Naewna newspaper said this evening (Sept. 20).

Pol. Col. Tawee Kudthang, head of Ban Bueng police station, rushed to the scene of the robbery at a rear of a bank in this district upon being alerted of the crime.

He was told by Ms. Prapaporn (surname withheld), 29, who was in a state of shock that she came to the bank in her company’s van to withdraw the large amount of cash to pay the workers’ wages which is something she did on the 5th and the 20th of every month.

After withdrawing 3.5 million baht she placed 3.46 million baht in a backpack and gave it to the driver, Mr. Kritchawat (surname withheld), 24, to carry to the van while putting 40,000 baht in small notes in a black bag which she carried.

As soon as they opened the van’s door and placed the backpack on a seat, a tall big-built man wearing the green uniform of a food delivery rider came up and opened the van’s other door and yelled at Kritchawat accusing him of liking his neighbour’s wife a lot. Kritchawat tried to kick him, but the rider warned him that he had a pistol, so he ran into an alley with the rider chasing him.

Kritchawat then shouted, “It’s not me, have you got the wrong person?” while Prapaporn also loudly said that it was not her as she was single.

A little later the rider came back and got on his grey-colour motorcycle without a licence plate and grabbed the backpack filled with the payroll and zoomed away. Prapaporn said she tried to pull the backpack back from the thief but he was too strong.

Later, Pol. Col. Thanawut Chongjira, deputy chief of Chonburi provincial police, came to the scene and ordered the Ban Bueng police investigation team to quickly find clues of the robbery and track the criminal’s escape route on surveillance cameras.

A clip from a camera near the scene of the robbery shows the thief riding past the front of the bank three times before going to the rear where the van was parked. After snatching the payroll he rode off towards Chonburi city.

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Scenes from this afternoon’s payroll robbery in Chonburi. Photos: Naewna