A 41-year-old taxi driver has been arrested on theft charges in Bangkok after stealing a car from a woman he courted through Line chat.
Brown and Conny stickers from Line
Police on Saturday arrested Rathana Chuthachan, 41, wanted on a court warrant on car theft charges with a 30,000-baht bounty on his head, at the entrance of Soi Ramkhamhaeng 21 in Bangkok.
The arrest of the suspect followed a complaint from a woman that Mr Rathana had stolen her new Suzuki Swift car after courting her through the Line chat application for six months. The man stole her car key and gave it to his cousin to drive the car to another place. He then put the key back in her room and took her to file a complaint with police that her car was stolen, Matichon Online reported.
During the interrogation, Mr Rathana confessed he really wanted the woman to be his girlfriend, not preying on her as alleged. However, his financial trouble had driven him to steal her car to cover the repair costs for his taxi. His cousin, whom he asked to steal the car, had transferred 30,000 baht to his bank account before being arrested.
The suspect told police that he had briefly entered monkhood in a northern province after committing the theft. He then left monkhood and returned to Bangkok, where he was caught.