Nonthaburi: Heartless thieves broke into a safe at a famous temple in Nonthaburi, making off with tens of thousands of baht. CCTV footage clearly shows a brazen thief breaking into a donation safe at Wat Uthayan temple in Nonthaburi province, making off with tens of thousands of baht. Not content with that, the thief also emptied the monks' alms bowls. Police are urgently pursuing the suspect.
According to Thai News Agency, the first CCTV footage, taken at 2:49 AM on the night of April 16th, shows three suspects entering the large pavilion of Luang Pu Phraem at Wat Uthayan, Bang Kruai District, Nonthaburi Province. They were seen dragging a large safe and attempting to open it to steal the donations inside. Unable to open the safe, they used a crowbar to pry open the money slot, creating a large hole. They stole tens of thousands of baht before fleeing.
Another angle of the footage shows a lone perpetrator wearing a white helmet, long-sleeved shirt, and long pants. They calmly walked up to the alms bowl, rummaged through belongings, and stole money that had been donated by devotees to the statue of Luang Pu Phraem Ruea Thong Setthi, the former abbot (during the reign of King Rama V), a revered monk with many followers even to this day.
Later, on the night of April 29, 1969, almost midnight, the perpetrators, believed to be the same group, entered the alms-giving pavilion. CCTV footage shows two suspects, one wearing a helmet and the other not, walking around to the back of the display case containing amulets that the temple had set up for rent and sale. They then disappeared behind the case and together opened 33 small alms bowls, which were provided for worshippers to donate according to their faith. These bowls, full of money, were stored behind the display case. The perpetrators opened the bowls and stole all the money inside.
Pol. Col. Nares Son-aum, the temple's lay administrator and a retired police officer, revealed to reporters that after the incident, the abbot authorized him to file a police report with Bang Kruai Police Station to help track down the perpetrators. The temple provided the police with CCTV footage showing the suspects in the act. He urged the police to expedite the arrest of the criminals, fearing they might become emboldened and commit similar crimes at other temples, as the stolen money was donations from parishioners intended for temple maintenance.