A foreign man wanted in connection with a string of break-ins two years ago, including one at the home of Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon, has been arrested in Khon Kaen.
Robert Alexander Williams, 46, and his girlfriend were on board a Bangkok-Udon Thai passenger bus when police stopped it at a checkpoint on Mittraparb Road in Ban Phai district of Khon Kaen yesterday morning.
The Criminal Court had issued an arrest warrant for Mr Williams on April 26, 2016 for colluding with individuals involved in home break-ins. Both Mr Williams and a 37-year-old Thai woman were taken to Ban Phai police station for interrogation.
Mr Williams holds a Colombian passport and an international driving licence stating his place of birth as the United States, but it is not clear if either document is genuine.
The home break-ins took place in April 2016 at housing estates in Bangkok and nearby provinces (including Pattaya), said Pol Maj Gen Thanasak Ritthidetpaiboon, deputy chief of Provincial Police Region 4.
Some of the homes targeted belonged to high-ranking military officers and one was that of Gen Prawit, who is also the defence minister.
Police said Mr Williams confessed to having colluded with three Colombians to break into homes during Songkran in 2016. Stolen from the military officers' homes were cash and valuables worth more than 2 million baht, according to said Pol Maj Gen Thanasak.
Officers from the Crime Suppression Division, the Metropolitan Police Bureau, the Tourist Police Bureau and Provincial Police Office 4 took part in the investigation.
"Before his arrest, police had received information that the Colombian national had taken an inter-provincial bus heading to the Northeast," said Pol Maj Gen Thanasak. "The officers searched all buses entering the region and finally found the suspect who mingled with other passengers. The suspect was travelling with his girlfriend".
Some time after their arrest, both suspects were handed over to the Don Muang police station in Bangkok.
