At about 3am, Thongsuk Fangnin, 29, twice walked in and out of the store at the mouth of Nawamin Soi 68 in Bueng Kum district before he bought a Bt5 pack of candy on the third trip and pointed the cigarette lighter at the cashier.

When Thongsuk walked back to the convenience store to get the candy he left behind, the clerk remembered him as coming from a nearby construction camp and called police.

The suspect was apprehended in Thawee Watthana district with the lighter that looked like a 9mm handgun and Bt1,400 on him.

After being booked for armed robbery, Thongsuk told police he was stressed out from a fight with his girlfriend and wanted money to go home to Si Sa Ket, so he drank three cans of beer and held up the store.