British Senior Citizen Trained at Fitness Centre Before Chiang Mai Bank Heist

From ANDREW DRUMMOND,
Bangkok,  October 10 2011

Pictures Andrew Chant/Boem
For Daily Mail

A retired Briton was under arrest in Thailand and facing 25 years in jail today after pulling off an armed bank heist in the Northern capital of Chiang Mai.


Michael Wynn – The bitter end of the hunt
Michael Wynn, 63, was arrested early this morning (Monday) at a £150 a month apartment, five days after the robbery at a bank in the city centre.

Thai Police said Wynn trained at a ‘Fitness Thailand’ gym before and after the robbery last Wednesday.

He trained here regularly before his heist
Wynn, admitted the robbery, police said, after he was caught with most of the £12,000 cash in his one bedroomed apartment. But he refused to give any further details of himself or the incident.
Police also took away three copies of the magazine ‘Soldier of Fortune’ ,  one issue of ‘Tactical Weapons’, and 21 ‘weapons videos’.

Siam Commercial Bank police recovered all the cash 530,000, less 123,000.
——————————————-
Witnesses in the area of the robbery said they had seen Wynn drive past the bank several times on a red Honda Click motorcycle before the robbery. One recognized him as a member of the ‘Fitness Thailand’ gym in Icon Square, Chiang Mai.

Last Wednesday at 11.42 Wynn left his apartment at the Loft Residence (right) wearing a black motorcycle helmet and dark coat and drove to Diamond Square in the city centre, said police. 
 Wynn entered the Siam Commercial Bank there and brought out a gun and knife and demanded cash.

‘Actually he did not say anything. He just made the gestures, so we knew what he wanted,’ said bank teller Suparat Rattanakot, who put the money in his bag.

Afterwards Wynn fled on his Honda but was caught on several CCTV cameras. The red Honda Click was recognised by several witnesses. But it had its licenced plate removed.
 

 
Nevertheless police were able to trace it to the hirer who named Wynn as the person who rented it.
Wynn had been seen zooming about town on several occasions, particularly near the bank, it seems.

The Phantom? Well not quite. Foreigners still stand out in Chiang Mai, especially big ones on little motorbikes going to the gym
————————————————————————
 
Police Colonel Somsak Jantapung said: ‘He was recognized as a foreigner immediately from his build and skin colouring. Later his clothes, and his motorcycle provided more clues.  We put him under surveillance at the gym and followed him back to his apartment.

A fair cop. Well Wynn did not think so when he was put up before a press conference and the whole dirty deed was explained. It was a breach of human rights he said, and he knew because he had been a policeman earlier in his life.
——————————————————-
‘We then applied for a warrant for his arrest and when we entered his apartment at the Loft Residence he let us in and admitted the robbery after we found the cash, and the helmet and shoes which were similar to those used in the robbery.’

Soldier of Fortune magazine- required Chiang Mai reading – but usually only by foreigners intending to cross the Burma border and start shifting with the Shan, Karen, and Karenni rebel armies there.
——————————————–
 Late today he was visited by a British Consular official.