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Published on August 1, 2007

The suspect, Boontheung Ratchomphu, 42, claimed he stole the goods out of anger because the stewardess, Kan-chalee Permthanjit, 30, had not paid him for gardening work.

Kanchalee, however, believes there was more to the motive than the overdue payment.

Police yesterday afternoon presented the suspect - who was arrested earlier at his home near Rim Suan Housing Estate on Ram Intra Road - along with the stolen items, including eight Rolex watches worth Bt880,000, one Cartier watch worth Bt100,000, a Luminor Pane-rai watch worth Bt200,000 and other brand-name watches worth more than Bt1 million.

The arrest came after Kanchalee filed a police compliant on Monday evening that the valuables she kept at her Rim Suan house had been stolen. Police officers inspected the house and found it had been ransacked, with traces of forced entry. They collected a shoe, which matched footprints found around the scene.

A security guard at the estate later told police that it was one of a pair he had previously lent to his father-in-law Boontheung, who worked as the estate's gardener and was hired by Kanchalee to work on her garden, said Min Buri police superintendent Colonel Cherdchai Sattabutr.

During police interrogation, Boontheung reportedly confessed that he had stolen the items because he was enraged that Kanchalee had not paid him for his work.

Police will also summon Boontheung's wife, who worked as the housemaid and is believed to be his accomplice. She is suspected of being in possession of another watch and two diamond rings belonging to Kanchalee.

Police carried out a urine test for drug abuse on Boontheung and his security guard son-in-law, and both were found positive for yaa ba (methamphetamine).

Boontheung - who had previously been jailed for six years for stealing a gold necklace - told police that he had kept the stolen items in plastic bags hidden in a bush and behind an advertising billboard at the estate's entrance.

He denied having anything do with the still-missing watch and two diamond rings, and insisted his wife had nothing to do with the crime.

Kanchalee said she and her husband were not often home because both worked for Thai Airways, and therefore she had not had a chance to meet and pay the gardener. However, she believes Boontheung's motives were not- solely as he claimed.

"I trusted him because he was the estate's gardener and the husband of my housemaid. He shouldn't think that I intentionally avoided paying him. If his wife was in this, I'd press charges," she added.