DFA: Four Pinoys plead guilty in 6-million Baht jewelry heist in Bangkok

Published March 9, 2012 6:30pm

The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said four persons pleaded guilty out of the six Filipino suspects arrested this week for allegedly stealing jewelry worth more than 6.39 million baht in Bangkok.

DFA spokesman Raul Hernandez, DFA spokesman said the six Filipinos, together with interpreter and a Philippine embassy officer, attended a preliminary hearing on Friday morning. Hernandez said four of the suspects pleaded guilty, two denied the charges. The judge prescribed a 500,000-baht bail bond for each person. They will meet with a Thai lawyer on Wednesday. The accused Filipinos said they can pay for their own defense counsel. If convicted, they could be sentenced to five to 10 years in prison.

According to a report of the news site Bangkok Post on Thursday, the owner of the Gems Pavilion jewelry store in Bangkok's Siam Paragon shopping mall found out that several pieces of jewelry were missing after the Filipinos left the store.

Metropolitan Police Bureau chief Winai Thongsong said the Filipinos were caught by security cameras committing the crime. The police then followed the six Filipinos to Centre Point hotel where they were booked and found the missing gold and diamond rings and diamond necklaces in their room. The report said one of the stolen necklaces was about two million baht. Winai said another Filipino suspect, Gervacio Cruz, 33, was still at-large but a warrant had already been issued for his arrest. - VVP, GMA News

Tags: bangkok, thailand, pinoysinthailand