Thai thief who stole money from temple arrested while queueing for petrol at petrol station

Man who stole temple’s money gets arrested while queueing for petrol

Police arrested a 28-year-old thief in Trat, Thailand, while he was in line for fuel at a petrol station. He allegedly stole money from a temple.

The arrest followed a social media plea to look out for a suspicious car belonging to a thief who had stolen funds from Wat Sapan Hin’s charity.

Citizen trailed the suspect for over 40km before arrest

On the night of Friday (20 March), a vigilant citizen spotted a vehicle matching the description of the suspect’s car and trailed it for over 40 kilometres.

The citizen provided real-time updates to the police until the vehicle was intercepted at the petrol station.

Initially, the suspect denied all accusations, claiming he was merely taking a stroll at the temple and driving around for fun.

However, upon learning that he had been caught due to a citizen’s report, he became belligerent and began shouting insults.

This provoked the informant, who struck the suspect once in the face out of frustration over his lies.

Officers intervened to prevent a potential mob lynching and quickly moved the suspect into a police vehicle.

Police found stolen cash and coins in his vehicle

Police searched the car and found charity envelope containing 100 baht (S$3), which the suspect later admitted to stealing.

Officers also found two plastic bags filled with a large amount of coins, though the suspect claimed these were his personal savings from work.

Police took the suspect to Mueang Trat Police Station for questioning.

They found that he was driving without a license and recorded a blood alcohol level of 25 mg%.

He received an additional charge of driving under the influence (DUI).

He had committed six thefts at the temple

According to Trat Post News, the assistant of the temple’s abbot revealed that the suspect had committed six thefts at the sanctuary and stolen up to 30,000 baht (S$1,180) in total.

Each time, he would choose a time when the abbot was away and search the lower level of his hut.

He would steal all the money from the donation box, the alms bowl, the coins, and the Kathin envelopes until they were empty.

At around 2.50pm on Friday, monks at the temple noticed something was wrong in the residence.

After they called another monk to help inspect it, the thief apologised and fled the scene.

The monks attempted to chase him, but he entered his sedan and drove away.

Also read: Man steals gold medal from deity statue in Taiwan temple while pretending to offer prayers