Officers from Mueng Pattaya Police Station arrested a British and Korean man yesterday after they stole 175,000 baht from a cannabis shop in Pattaya on Saturday. Another suspect, an Irishman, is being questioned by police under suspicion of being involved in the robbery.
The two thieves were identified as 47 year old Englishman Markus Powell and 52 year old Korean Myoung Kyu Lee. The arrest followed a complaint made by the owner of the cannabis shop on Pattaya Sai Sam Road, THC Trade Herbs & Cannabis, on Saturday, March 25.
The shop owner, 44 year old Parin Parnsing, reported that his Korean co-owner, Namil Kim, was attacked by the thieves while he was working in an office behind the shop at about 11.20pm. The two foreign men broke into the office and attacked Kim, although no weapons were used.
The thieves then stole Kim’s wallet which contained 5,000 baht cash and a safety box with approximately 170,000 baht cash before fleeing the scene in a car.
Officers checked the security cameras of the shop until they could identify and arrested the thieves yesterday. There is also suspicion that a 52 year old Irishman may have been involved in the robbery. However, the police do not have concrete evidence and are currently questioning him further.
The Korean victim, Namil Kim, seems to have had a run of bad luck. Last month he was shot in the leg by a local man at a grocery store near his cannabis shop. According to a witness, Kim appeared to be drunk and was making a nuisance of himself and the customer lost his temper as a result. The man withdrew his gun and fired two shots, one hit the allegedly irritating Korean in the leg while the second shot hit a passing motorcyclist in the leg.
This was the second shooting in Pattaya in two months.
In January, the nephew of a former deputy mayor of Pattaya shot a British man in a road rage incident.
The 32 year old man, identified only by his first name Apichat, shot 71 year old Neil Roger after the motorcyclist honked his horn at him.
Roger, a British engineer, died as a result of the shooting.
Apichat later surrendered to the police.
