A prolific underwear thief who stole thousands of bras and panties during a 20-year crime spree has finally been caught in Thailand.
Nattawut Songchai, 38, had a stash of around 600 pieces of underwear before he was caught in an apartment in Bangkok on February 12, police said, but he admitted stealing many more over the years.
His arrest occurred after a resident of the same apartment block reported that the underwear she had hung out to dry had disappeared on the night of February 11, despite the anti-theft mesh that surrounded her balcony.
Police embarrassed the man by forcing him to pose in his haul of bras, pants and pajamas, which appear to have been hanging and stored in closets in his apartment.
The perverted thief told police he has been stealing women’s underwear since he was a teenager and has now vowed to change his creepy habits after he has “done his time”.
Nattawut Songchai, 38, allegedly had a stash of around 600 pieces of underwear before he was caught by police in an apartment in Bangkok on February 12.
Songchai poses with her stash of bras, pants, and pajamas that look like they’ve been hanging and stored in the closets of her apartment.
Officers found 516 bras, 72 pairs of pants and three sets of women’s pajamas in the apartment.
Officers have taken the perverted thief into custody.
Police eventually captured Songchai, they said, after “investigators examined surveillance footage and found a man walking down the street and then going up to the apartment.”
“He reached into a gap between the wall and the metal mesh to steal the underwear,” said Colonel Payap Somboon, superintendent of Bang Yi Khan police station. “He then returned to his room in the same apartment,”
Officers gathered at Nattawut’s room and detained him for questioning. Inside it they found 516 bras, 72 pairs of pants and three sets of women’s pajamas.
Speaking to police officers, Nattawut said he had been stealing women’s underwear since he was 18 “because he liked to smell it.”
The pervert told police: ‘I have liked women’s underwear since I was 18, when I worked in construction in Samut Sakhon province.
‘At night I would sneak out of camp and catch two to six pairs at a time. I smelled them while masturbating and kept my collection a secret from my coworkers.
“I was caught stealing underwear about 10 years ago, but I made a deal with the victim to avoid arrest. After that I continued stealing underwear.
He said he had been working as a handyman at the Goyee apartment in Bangkok, where the owner provided him with accommodation and a monthly salary of 2,000 baht.
Officers gathered at Nattawut’s room and detained him for questioning.
Her arrest came after a resident of the same apartment block reported that the underwear she had hung out to dry was missing.
Nattawut continued: ‘I stayed there for a year as I continued my habit of stealing underwear until I was finally caught. I promise I’ll leave him once I’ve served my time.
Officers have now taken the perverted thief into custody.
Police Colonel Payap Somboon said: “He said he can’t stop stealing panties because he is addicted to it.” The court will deal with it and decide what to do.
In a similar case last March, another Thai man was arrested for stealing hundreds of items of underwear for pleasure.
Ophas Chuenjit, 27, grabbed bras and panties from women’s clothing racks and rubbed them while masturbating.
Police Colonel Payap Somboon said: “He said he can’t stop stealing panties because he is addicted to it.”
The perverted criminal admitted he has been stealing women’s underwear since he was a teenager and has now vowed to change his creepy ways.
When he was done, he used the underwear to decorate a bamboo thicket in the forest near his home in Kamphaeng Phet province.
Police arrested him following investigations after a surprised passer-by discovered the sexual shrine adorned with dirty underwear.
Stealing underwear is a type of fetish or ‘paraphilia’: intense sexual arousal derived from objects, fantasies or behaviors.
In an interview with the New Straits Times, Dr Shazli Ezzat Ghazali, an associate professor at the Clinical Psychology and Behavioral Health Program at University Kebangsaan Malaysia, said stealing underwear in particular can make the perpetrator “feel closer.” “from the owners of the panties.
He added that thieves may get a thrill from committing such taboo activities.