Police have released photos of suspects thought to be involved in the theft of more than 12 million baht from 21 ATMs of the state-run Government Savings Bank (GSB) in six provinces, as well as images of the getaway vehicles.
Pol Gen Panya Mamen, the Royal Thai Police's adviser who heads an investigation team handling the case, on Friday chaired a three-hour meeting to follow up on the case.
Speaking after the meeting, he said investigators obtained CCTV images of eight to nine suspects, although their identities have yet to be verified. However, police confirmed they are foreigners.
Although the suspects do not match the information provided by police from neighbouring countries, investigators are now getting a clearer picture, Pol Gen Panya said.
He said police obtained images of three vehicles thought to have been used by the thieves to escape after the thefts, adding that police need to gather more evidence before they can seek arrest warrants. He also said some suspects are believed to still be in the country.
Pol Gen Panya expressed confidence that police will be able to capture the perpetrators as many people are providing police with useful clues.
However, he said after the incident, the perpetrators were expected to spend their time in vehicles rather than renting rooms, which would make it hard for police to track them down. So far there was no evidence that implicated any Thais in the theft and nobody has yet been detained, he said.
A manhunt is under way with police suspecting the theft from the GSB is the work of Eastern European criminals and may be linked to the multiple attacks on ATMs of a major domestic bank in Taiwan in July.
GSB shut down half of its ATMs after discovering some were infected with malware that forced them to dispense millions of baht in cash in what is the country's first recorded case of its kind.
Assuring the thefts, which took place during Aug 1-8, did not affect customer accounts, GSB president Chartchai Payuhanaveechai said the gang targeted 21 ATMs in at least six provinces.
The six provinces are Phuket, Surat Thani, Chumphon, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Phetchaburi and Bangkok.