Thailand hi-tech housebreaker – Thai police have arrested a suspected thief in Muang district of Khon Kaen province on Sunday.
A 22-year-old identified as Thotsawat Lert-arayakul used Google Maps to carry out a string of break-ins at luxury housing estates. The thief was apprehended at an apartment room in Khon Khaen and was initially charged with nighttime theft.
Pol Lt Gen Boonlert Jaipradit, commissioner of police, said police had received a number of complaints over the past week that thieves had broken into houses in estates in Khon Kaen’s Muang district and made off with many valuable items.
Thotsawat confessed that he have carried out a number of burglaries targeting houses in luxury estates since March last year. Before the robbery, he would get help from Google Maps Street View to monitor activities of residents in the neighborhood and tenants of a targeted home. Majority of his break-ins took place after 10 pm.
The culprit would keep an eye for few days on the targeted home to know their fixed schedules on returning home. He climbed the walls to get inside when the occupants went out.
“After climbing over a wall, I would break into a targeted house through a rear bathroom window or shatter a window at the back door of the house. On entering a house, I would steal valuables on the first floor only. Each break-in would take five to ten minutes,” Thotsawat said.
“I spent the money from selling the stolen items to finance my personal expenses as I have many girlfriends,” he added.
Unemployment drove him to carry out these criminal acts to get money so he could finance his expenses. He attempted to get a job at state agencies and other firms but rejected at all occasions. Police have seized more than 140 stolen items from his possession, including a motorcycle, mobile phones, watches, electrical appliances, laptops, gold ornaments and other valuables.
Thailand hi-tech housebreaker File photo shows the suspect re-enacting a break-in at a house in a luxury housing estate in Khon Kaen. – Image courtesy of Bangkok Post
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