Suvarnabhumi thief falls for police trap

Surasawat Siriwattanasin is taken to a briefing on Thursday after police caught him stealing a mobile phone at Suvarnabhumi airport. (Photo by Sutthiwit Chayutvorakan)

A thief was caught red-handed at Suvarnabhumi on Thursday after he fell for a trap set by airport authorities.

A Suvarnabhumi airport policeman disguised himself as a passenger to lure in Surasawat Siriwattanasin, the man filmed on Tuesday by security cameras stealing a mobile from a Thai man and a handset from a Ugandan traveller, plus US$300 in cash.

Both victims lodged complaints with Suvarnabhumi Airport police and airport officials, telling them that their phones were stolen while they were sleeping inside the airport. Footage from closed circuit cameras confirmed their claims.

Airport officials and the police station then assigned a police investigator to dress like a tourist and pretend to be sleeping on the ground floor, leaving a mobile phone by his side to lure the suspect.

Mr Surasawat, 40, finally showed up and was immediately arrested as he tried to grab the phone.

Kittipong Kittikachorn, the Suvarnabhumi airport security chief, said the suspect confessed that all of the items he had stolen were kept at his house in the Rangsit area or sold to shops at the Zeer Rangsit shopping centre. They were stolen from passengers at Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang airports, the airport official added.

He faces a theft charge which carries a jail term of up to five years and a fine of between 2,000 and 10,000 baht.