Botched heist sees thief trapped inside mall after hiding overnight to steal from jewellery shop

Police say suspect spent three days studying target and was convinced he had planned the perfect robbery

A Thai burglar’s meticulously planned heist went badly wrong when he trapped himself inside the jewellery shop he intended to rob.

The man hid inside a Yaowarat gold shop in a shopping mall in Chiang Mai until closing time, donned a Scream Ghostface mask and broke into the store, police say.

He used a metal bar to force open the lock on the shop’s retractable iron gate after the shopping mall closed on Monday, said police colonel Yannapol Pattanachai, commander of Mae Ping police station. After slipping inside the shop he pulled the gate shut behind him to stay unnoticed.

The burglar took several gold necklaces and walked back towards the gate, only to realise that he couldn’t lift it from the inside. The gate was too close to the shop’s display counter and couldn’t be moved, The Nation reported. In desperation the suspect searched for an exit at the back of the shop but found no way out, police said.

A 21-year-old suspect arrested from the scene has been identified by police by only his first name, Aesara. The incident took place off the Chiang Mai-Lampang Superhighway in Chiang Mai’s Mueang district.

Suspect wore a ‘Scream’ movie mask to evade security cameras inside the shopping mall in Chiang Mai, Thailand (AFP via Getty)

Police say staff found him stuck when they arrived for work on Tuesday morning, locked him in further and called the police.

Police say Aesara told them he spent three days studying the target and was convinced he had planned the perfect robbery.

Travelling from Na Noi district in Nan province, he dressed in black and wore the infamous Ghostface mask from the film Scream to evade security cameras, police said.