Myanmar police have arrested a thief wanted in the burglary of a Swedish diplomat’s home home, nearly two months after he took cash, electronics and a bicycle as the family slept.
Naung Naung was apprehended on Saturday while attempting to travel by train from Kachin State to Mandalay. Police in Yangon’s Bahan township say they had obtained video evidence placing him at the scene of the October crime and that he quickly confessed after being picked up by authorities in Myitkyina, a town in Kachin.
“We found CCTV evidence and we investigated further. He had been to their house before to fix something. When we went to his place of residence in Dagon Seikkan, he wasn’t home; we heard that he was in Myitkyina and alerted the relevant authorities,” a Bahan police officer who requested anonymity told Coconuts Yangon.
Naung Naung had been to the home of the first secretary of the Embassy of Sweden as a handyman when the house was undergoing renovations.
On the night of Oct. 20, the first secretary’s family went shopping for a trip they were taking during the Thadingyut festival. When they returned later that night, they initially didn’t notice anything unusual.
But when they woke at 4am the next morning to leave for their trip, they noticed that their car keys were dangling from the car door.
Going back inside to check their belongings, they realized they were missing 280,000 kyats, 210 euros, ThB4,200 and US$250, an iPad Mini, a Sony Xperia XA2 in their home, and a bicycle from their front yard.
According to Bahan police, when Naung Naung was arrested, he confessed to the crime and returned the stolen items to authorities.
