Houses Torched After Robberies

November 2, 2013

Police were astonished to find two separate houses of foreigners were burning in Pattaya, then found evidence of robberies, but still have not positively concluded that it was definitely arson.

PATTAYA – November 1, 2013 [PDN]; At 2.00 pm. Police Colonel Anukul Preedayuth (a Investigation Officer of Pattaya City Police station, in Chonburi Province), was notified that there was a fire burning at the house address of 404/155 “View Talay Villa” village near Jomtien beach, South Pattaya. He quickly coordinated with the ‘Center of Protection and Relief of Public Disasters’ for Pattaya City to bring units of firemen and three water trucks to rush and inspect the blaze.

At the fire scene the officers found a fire was burning at the house address of 407/155 belonging to Mr. Yves Deplat, (aged 50-years of French nationality, so the firemen used water for approximately 15-minutes until they could extinguish the fire. Suddenly there was smoke drifted into the air from a nearby house address of 407/157 which belongs to Mr. Torsten Lange, (aged 67-years, of German nationality, which is located neear to the first house fire incident, However, there is another house located between these two burning houses, (which makes it look very suspicious), so the firemen hurried to extinguish this fire until it had also stopped burning.

From investigations, the police knew that the owners of these two houses had just went back to their home countries recently and they usually came to stay at Pattaya only once a year for 1-2 months each time. The police inspected inside both of the two houses and found that there were traces of the fires burning only a sofa and a bed. Besides, in the second house address of 407/157 of Mr. Torsten, the officers found the empty snack wrappers and the air conditioner had been switched on, so the officers blockaded the area to forbid any other people from going inside the houses.

Investigators questioned Mr. Jean Prouvost, a 51-year old French national, who is the owner of the house that is located between the two fire incident houses. He told the police that previously he saw smoke drifting into the air from the house 407/155 of Mr. Yves Deplat, so he informed firemen to extinguish the fire. Around 2-days ago he heard a noise as if there was someone climbing the wall and entered into Mr. Yves Deplat’s 407/155, house but when he went to see, he didn’t find anything unusual.

After the initially questioning of surrounding witnesses, the police still don’t positively identify the causes of the fires burning in the two houses. Was it was arson or not? But from the evidence of objects that the police found at the fire scenes, they assume that there might be a culprit who came into the houses to steal property. However, they have to wait for the forensic police to inspect again, so as to find the exact cause of these fire incidents. The saying of “where there is smoke there is fire” is very true and in this case the cause of these fires will probably expose a new crime.