A 23-year-old Australian man was arrested Monday after he allegedly held up Thanachart Bank with a BB gun in hopes of buying a plane ticket home.
...Zachary Cronin was wearing a black Guy Fawkes mask and goggles when he stormed the bank's Saphan Khwai branch at 8.45am.
There he allegedly pointed the fake gun at bank tellers, who handed over 170,000 baht in cash.
Mr Cronin made it only 200 metres before being caught and handcuffed.
A bank employee hit the alarm, but a Bang Sue policeman was already inside the bank.
He and the bank's security guard chased down the Aussie, whose choice of getaway routes turned out to be a dead end soi next to the bank.
LIVING IN RED-LIGHT DISTRICT, RAN OUT OF MONEY QUICKLY
Mr Cronin said he was a tourist staying in the Nana red-light area on Sukhumvit Road and had spent all his money in only a month. He then decided to rob the bank.
The suspect wanted to use the money to buy a plane ticket back to Australia.
Mr Cronin travelled from Nana to Saphan Kwai by BTS Skytrain and spent five minutes scouting areas outside the Thanachart Bank before the robbery, he added.
Police escorted him to Thanachart bank Morchit branch late today for a re-enactment of his bank robbery.