A 40-year-old Japanese man and two Thai women were arrested Saturday at a Bangkok airport for allegedly making a false theft claim to police in Nakhon Sawan Province, police said Sunday.
Yoshio Yamamoto, from Tokyo, Suwan Kochateun, 32, and Sunantha Viriya, 25, were arrested at around 7 p.m. Saturday at Don Muang Airport. The three allegedly told police that a tricycle operator on Wednesday stole a computer, camera and other belongings worth a combined 102,000 baht (about $2,500).
However, police found that nothing happened on the day at the location in question, said Maj. Col. Yothin Somboonsilp of the provincial police station.
"I was suspicious when they lodged the petition with me because the location of the incident and their travel destination were not related," Yothin told Kyodo News by telephone.
The three suspects were granted bail and will appear at a provincial court Monday. They have confessed to making the false statements in order to claim travel insurance money from an unnamed Japanese insurance company, police said.
Lodging a false petition with police in Thailand is an offense punishable by up to six months imprisonment, a fine of 1,000 baht or both.