Luxury Koh Samui hotel robbed of 70 million baht worth of assets

[PeteC]

This one boggles the mind. A 348 room luxury hotel (yet to open) stripped of everything right down to the door handles during the Covid period. I guess they should have hired security guards?! Video at link.

https://thethaiger.com/news/samui/luxur ... -of-assets

Six thieves were arrested today in connection with a 70 million baht robbery of a luxury Koh Samui hotel. Police believe more suspects are involved and made it known they are searching for them.

The Chaweng Blue Lagoon Hotel is reported to be worth 400 million baht but it will be worth considerably less now after 348 rooms were stripped of assets worth up to 70 million baht by thieves.

Thieves stripped rooms of you name it: electrical wires, light bulbs, plug sockets, tables, chairs, beds, flush toilets, water heaters, showers, curtains, bedding, glass windows, wooden doors, air conditioners, water pumps, elevators, stair handrails, and even roof structures.

Every room was destroyed in the process leaving the hotel looking like a construction site. The thieves also left tools and empty food containers at the scene, revealing it wasn’t a smash-and-grab job. They took their time while stripping the place bare.

The hotel’s owner, Yommana Poonsawat, said she had invested 400 million baht in the hotel. It was ready to welcome guests but the opening was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Yommana revealed that she had not been back to the hotel after she locked it following the refurbishment.

“It was the biggest robbery in Koh Samui. They were cruel. I lost over 70 million baht.”

She revealed that she can’t afford to renovate the hotel and will have to put it up for sale. She added that she wants the police to take the robbery seriously and find solutions to prevent a similar case from happening in the future.

“Koh Samui needs tourists, but who will invest in Koh Samui after learning about this news?”

Officers from Bor Phuut Police Station today made it known they arrested six thieves after investigating security cameras nearby the area. They could face, at least, a penalty of up to three years in jail and a fine of up to 6,000 baht according to Section 334 of the Criminal Law related to offences against property.

They could face further charges and penalties if their actions fall into any specific type of theft according to the Criminal Law, Section 335.

The officer in charge of the investigation reckoned that the thieves spent about three months stripping the hotel and more than six people were involved. He added they are checking other security cameras to arrest the whole gang.

SOURCE: Khaosod | Channel 3

[Big Boy]

I've just seen the hotel on Thai news. It most definitely looks like a new construction site, but then I read, "Every room was destroyed in the process leaving the hotel looking like a construction site." That wasn't a five minute job, for sure.

[PeteC]

No, not a quick job. In the article(s) they estimate 3 months+. I imagine it simply appeared as workmen coming and going in various vehicles typical for a hotel being worked on. Why the owner apparently had no security whatsoever is a huge question in my mind.

[Big Boy]

Totally abandoned for 3 month while it happened - very suspicious in my opinion.

[PeteC]

Totally abandoned for 3 month while it happened - very suspicious in my opinion.

Yes. We now have to see if any information about the owners insurance policies becomes public. With an operation this big, and so many people involved, someone is going to talk to save his own skin if it was an inside job.

Another point is where did it all go? Are the second hand shops on Samui bursting at the seams with bedding, closets, doors, toilets, windows etc?...not to mention at least 348+ TV sets! If it all went off the island in freight containers there will be a record of shipper and consignee with the local shipping companies.

[PeteC]

This whole thing looks to be turning into an inside job by the previous lessee. An interesting point somewhere in the article was that the lessee was given 30 days to remove any "furnishing and items" from the premises. They sure did that!

Koh Samui hotel thieves may have been led by the ex-lessee

https://thethaiger.com/hot-news/crime/k ... -ex-lessee

In the curious case of a hotel owner claiming her hotel was dismantled by thieves who took literally everything, three more suspects were arrested in Koh Samui. Police executed a search warrant on Thursday for a warehouse on Samui that they say contained items they believe to be stolen from the remains of the Chaweng Blue Lagoon Teak Wing.

Though the hotel looks like an unfinished construction site and has been observed in that condition since at least late April before the thieves started to dismantle the property.

Online reviews going back to 2017 did mention that most rooms were closed or unfinished and the hotel was still under construction, but a block of rooms far from the lobby had been opened for guests. A quote from an eerily prescient TripAdvisor review in 2019:

“Something just doesn’t add up with this hotel very strange that it hasn’t been completed from the build. It would not surprise me at all if one day it just closed down and was left to become a ruin…”

The confusing story seems to be unfolding that the 31 year old registered owner of the warehouse and her 50 year old accomplice are the masterminds behind the theft. Natcha, the 31 year old Thai woman accused of leading the thieves, is married to a Swiss expat who leased the property in 1990 to build a hotel, with a 30-year lease that would have expired then in 2020.

The Teak was closed during Covid, and the landowner did not extend the lease, instructing the couple that they had 30 days to remove all the furnishings and items from the property before the landlord took control of the property. The landlord hired guards temporarily but left the contract to expire for the hotel which is tucked away, invisible from the street.

Then on August 22, the landowner checked in on the property and found it gutted. She complained to local police and an investigation was opened. The Koh Samui Tourism Association hailed the police but said they believe there are more thieves involved in the hotel burglary and further investigation was needed before the incident scares away investors and hoteliers.

The three people arrested for storing what appears to be stolen furnishings from the hotel bring the total to nine people arrested in the burglary so far, three of whom are Burmese. Eight of the people arrested are thought to be active participants, while the ninth is suspected of being the purchaser of the stolen goods, which Natcha was spotted selling on social media posts. All nine face up to seven years in jail and a maximum fine of 140,000 baht.

Thieves stripped 348 hotel rooms of you name it: electrical wires, light bulbs, plug sockets, tables, chairs, beds, flush toilets, water heaters, showers, curtains, bedding, glass windows, wooden doors, air conditioners, water pumps, elevators, stair handrails, and even roof structures.

The damages were estimated at 70 million baht, but that has been reduced to 14 million baht after careful examination found about 1,000 items thought to be lost were still on site.

SOURCE: The Phuket News

[PeteC]

This whole thing gets murky in my mind. If you have a 30 year lease, build buildings and furnish them on the property then the lease isn't renewed, isn't it your right to remove what you paid for?

The lessee could have leveled the entire building if he indeed owned it and the contents at the end of the lease IMO.