Robber caught

Nanthawut Promjai re-enacts a 7-Eleven store robbery yesterday after his arrest on Thursday night.

Almost 200 police were involved in chasing down a 30-year-old man suspected of being the notorious 7-Eleven robber who preyed on several Bangkok convenience stores this week.

Nanthawut Promjai was arrested on Thursday night escaping by motorcycle across a bridge near Wat Sribunruang.

He had just robbed a 7-Eleven on Petchaburi Road. Police chased him from Lamsalee intersection on Srinakarin Road.

He refused to stop. Police on motorcycles eventually ran him off the road. Nanthawut suffered a head injury in the chase.

He has been charged with robbery. Police found Bt2,420 on his person.

Metropolitan Police deputy chief Maj-General Pongsan Iam-on says Nanthawut has already confessed to nine convenience-store robberies in the past few weeks. Six cases took place in the past week alone. He says he needs the money to pay debts.

Bt10,000 debt

Nanthawut is an air-conditioning and refrigeration engineer. He is about Bt10,000 in debt after a failed Jatukam Ramathep amulet venture.

He supports a girlfriend stu-dying for a postgraduate degree as well as a farming mother.

"I am pressured to pay these debts many times a day. I knew the police were looking for me but I had to rob again. I had no choice," he says.

He took police back to the Petchaburi Road 7-Eleven to re-enact the last robbery.

He is detained on remand at the Criminal Court.