At 16:00 on February 24, 2026, the Thai Tourism Police and Chonburi Immigration Bureau officials conducted a joint operation and arrested four transgender suspects on suspicion of robbing and beating a German tourist in Pattaya. There are still two suspects at large.
The arrest resulted from a report made by a 55-year-old German man to the Pattaya City Police Station. The man said that before 0:45 a.m. on February 24, in a hotel room on Pattaya Road 2, two suspects stole 35,000 baht in cash and 1,200 euros from the room safe.
The tourist said that he found one of the suspects near Pattaya Beach afterwards and tried to control him while calling the police. During the process, he was surrounded by the other suspect's accomplices and was injured.
Police revealed that the tourist had invited the two suspects to the hotel room before the incident. During this period, while he was in the bathroom with one of them, the other person found an envelope containing cash and took the cash. Due to an argument, the original sex deal was canceled and the two men left the room. Police said the suspect admitted to dividing the stolen goods afterwards.
Tourists went out to search for the two men after discovering their belongings were missing, and were confronted by one of them near the beach. Police said the suspect called his accomplices for backup, and others arrived and beat the tourists.
Three of the suspects were charged with joint injury causing injury; another two were also charged with "joint burglary at night". All arrested persons have been detained and will be dealt with according to law.
Police said two of the suspects had apologized and admitted to committing the crime out of greed after seeing the large amount of cash.
The victim expressed appreciation for the Pattaya police's quick action and said he planned to return to the resort city in December this year to thank the police in person for their assistance.
