Police have identified and issued an arrest warrant for a man they suspect was behind a sophisticated THB10 million (about US$300,000) gem theft that occurred on Tuesday afternoon.
Today, Bang Rak police approved the warrant for 59-year-old Pipatpongpat Suksawatpipat, who allegedly robbed 44-year-old Indian jewelry seller Jain Vaiphav, reported Matichon.
According to police, Pipatpongpat pulled off the scheme by renting a space inside a commercial building on Bangkok’s Sriphaya Street just to set up the fake jewelry store he used to lure in the Indian businessman.
The perpetrator invited Vaiphav to his “store” to negotiate the price of a diamond. During the negotiation he convinced the Indian businessman to hand over the pricey 10 karat diamond.
Once the diamond was in his hands, however, Pipatpongpat locked Vaiphav inside the fake shop before quickly fleeing the scene on a motorcycle, driven by an accomplice that was waiting for him outside.
The accomplice has not been identified.
Vaiphav had to smash the shop’s glass door to get out and sustained a gash on his arm that required about 20 stitches.
The entire robbery only lasted about three minutes, reported Morning News.
Vaiphav said he met him the perpetrator at a jewelry fair, where they exchanged phone numbers. They stayed in contact after, with Pipatpongpat claiming that he was interested in buying the THB10 million diamond.
In his 20 years in the jewelry business, Vaiphav said he’d never heard of such a robbery method. He said he was incredibly stressed by the incident and desperately wants his diamond back.
The police seem quite confident that the gemstone is still in Pipatpongpat’s possession, as a diamond so valuable wouldn’t go unnoticed if he were to try to resell it, and said they expect to catch the perpetrator soon.
