On Wednesday at 3:15 am, the Pattaya Police Deputy Suppressing Inspector Pol. Capt. Somchai Chai-ka-na-nu-goon were called by a security guard near the Silver Exact Exchange Booth in Tip Plaza to trace a suspected thief. The thief had raided this exchange booth, and had just fled the scene after the alarm went off, running toward the beach.

The police approached the scene, and discovered that part of the ceiling had been opened. There was evidence that the burglar went through the money bins, and an amount of cash was taken.

The police surrounded the area and found a man, identified as Mr. Somjit Wasana, aged 41 from Patumthani province, near the Central Festival Pattaya Beach Mall. That made it easy for the police to take him in for questioning, as it was only about 50 meters from the Pattaya Police Station.

Mr. Somjit was detained with 33,945 baht in US dollars, Rupees, and Thai baht. he confessed to committing this burglary by himself, after watching the procedures of this business for many days. Nevertheless, he was still taken by surprise by the alarm which went off during the raid.

The owner Miss Porn-reudee Su-wan-jian-ma-nee, aged 34 was contacted.  She came to the booth and stated that, after the booth closed at 9 pm, an amount of money was always left in the drawer for the following day, and there was no staff guarding the booth.

Mr. Somjit has been imprisoned for drug possession many times, and he recently upgraded his status to be a local Mafioso in town.  This led the police to suspect that he did not commit this break in alone, so further investigations will be made.

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