Two men in Bangkok have been arrested for allegedly posing as police officers to rob Vietnamese tourists at a restaurant on November 30. The suspects, Thitiphong Phromcharoen and Phongsaphat Tanchan, were detained after the tourists reported the incident to the authorities.
According to Deputy Chief of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, Noppasin Poolsawat, the robbers, dressed in police uniforms with bulletproof vests and jackets, approached the tourists and showed fake police identification cards. They claimed that the tourists’ rented vehicle had been used for drug trafficking and insisted on conducting a search. The fake officers also carried walkie-talkies and firearms to further intimidate the victims.
During the search, the robbers examined the tourists’ passports and bags, which contained 120,000 baht in cash. One of the suspects seized the opportunity to snatch the money and car keys, while the other two kept up the ruse by maintaining a strong presence, one of them pointing a firearm at the tourists. The perpetrators made off with both the cash and the rented vehicle.
The distressed tourists managed to reach out to a Thai friend for help, who escorted them to the Lat Phrao police station to file a complaint. Following a swift investigation, police identified and arrested the two suspects, both of whom had extensive criminal records. However, the third suspect, Kittichai Owatsiriwong, remains at large. Owatsiriwong, known for his previous criminal activities, including theft, drug use, and gambling, is still being pursued by authorities.
In a similar case, police in Bang Rak apprehended an Iranian man who had been impersonating a police officer to steal cash from tourists. The man, 53-year-old Ghiasi Arefhossein, was arrested while trying to flee to Malaysia at the Sadao checkpoint. Arefhossein had been wanted by the authorities since a warrant was issued in September, and he now faces charges of theft by impersonation.
