The gold thief dared to swim the snake-infested river to Myanmar to escape Thai authorities. He took with him a gold necklace worth nearly 150,000 baht from a Thai gold shop in Chiang Rai.

According to the Khaosod report, the theft happened on November 26, Saturday at Seri Phan gold shop in Mae Sai district of Chiang Mai, Thailand. Ironically, the gold shop is only about 200 meters from the Mae Sai Police Station.

Police authorities were informed immediately by the shop’s manager. According to the manager, the thief, a male customer, initially asked for a 45.6-gram gold necklace worth about 100,000 baht and reasoned that it’s too expensive but promised to come back “to ask his wife’s opinion”.

He later came back but wanted to see a more expensive one worth 148,750 baht, almost 50,000 baht more than the first, because “his wife wanted a 75.8-gram of gold necklace”.

The manager agreed with the sale and handed the necklace to the man so he could check it. The customer ran away with his motorbike as soon as he got the gold necklace.

Thai police authorities managed to get video clips from nearby CCTVs following the man up to where he parked the motorbike which is near the Ruak River at the Thai-Burmese border.

The thief then courageously swam for about 100 meters of the snake-infested and polluted river to reach Myanmar’s side. Thai police are now in coordination with the Office of Thailand-Myanmar Border Cooperation to ask for help from the Myanmar authorities to resolve the case.

Source: Khaosod, สถานีตำรวจภูธรแม่สาย