PATTAYA, THAILAND – Three masked robbers stormed a gated housing estate in Pattaya, assaulted a British chef and escaped with a safe containing more than 2 million baht in cash earmarked for a house purchase, prompting an intensified police manhunt and scrutiny of a suspected insider tip.
Robbery in Chokchai Village 9 estate
The armed raid took place on the night of 26 February at a rented house in Chokchai Village 9, a secured residential compound in Pattaya. The victim, Wesleigh Cyril Russell, a 32-year-old British chef working abroad, was staying there with his 34-year-old Thai girlfriend, Ms. Chandee, and two British housemates.
According to police and witnesses, three men dressed in black hooded clothing and armed with knives forced their way into the house. One of the attackers held a knife to Russell’s neck and demanded money in what was described as a clearly foreign native accent.
Sequence of the attack inside the house
The assailants forced everyone present into the kitchen before seizing two mobile phones, an iPhone 16 and an iPhone 14. They then went to a bedroom on the first floor, where they located a safe hidden in a wardrobe containing the cash and carried it out of the property.
The money had been withdrawn from a bank account only a few days earlier and placed in the safe for a planned house purchase. Investigators later linked this timing to suspicions that detailed knowledge of the cash may have reached the robbers in advance.
Getaway by pickup and questions over security post
The robbers loaded the safe into a black four-door pickup truck parked nearby and fled the estate. As they drove out, they rammed and damaged the barrier at the security checkpoint after a guard attempted to open the gate, according to surveillance video reviewed by officers.
Footage from cameras in and around the housing development was being collected to trace the route of the vehicle before and after the crime. Police units focused on roads leading away from the estate where the pickup was believed to have headed.
On-site investigation and recovered evidence
On 27 February, Pol. Col. Natthaphon Phong Suk Sakun, head of Nong Prue Police Station, returned to the scene with investigators, forensic specialists from Region 2 and crime suppression units. The teams collected additional traces and sought fingerprints believed to belong to the suspects.
Officers later found the victim’s stolen mobile phones in a wooded area near a railway line about two to three kilometres away. The devices had apparently been discarded there before the perpetrators continued towards Wat Bun Kanchana Ram Road.
Insider tip-off suspected and possible accomplices
Investigators worked on the assumption that an insider tip had enabled the robbers to target the specific house and safe. The unusually high cash amount, withdrawn only recently for a property purchase, was seen as unlikely to be widely known without someone passing on the information.
A neighbour, speaking anonymously to local media, said he suspected that someone from within the household had disclosed details about the money. He pointed out that three British men, a Thai woman and a large pitbull dog lived in the house, rented for 25,000 baht per month, and that the dog had reportedly remained calm during the robbery.
Search for suspects and possible foreign involvement
Police described the three men as tall and strongly built and believed that at least the main speaker was likely a foreigner, while at least one Thai participant was also suspected in the group. Officers continued examining surveillance footage recorded before and after the crime to identify movements and possible staging points.
Further interviews with the victim, who had been living in Pattaya since November 2025, his girlfriend and their housemates were ongoing, and arrest warrants were being prepared. No arrests had yet been made as the investigation into the high-value robbery continued.